About Los Angeles

Los Angeles County is the first in the nation to reach 10 million residents. If the Los Angeles five-county area were a state, it would surpass all states in total population size with the exception of California, Texas, New York and Florida. The County of Los Angeles alone would be the seventh most populated state.  Los Angeles is the world’s premier center for the entertainment industry, home to a handful of the planet’s most famous studios, Los Angeles has the largest port in the Western Hemisphere, processing more than 40 percent of the goods entering to and from the United States. An attractive climate, the discovery of oil and the growth of the citrus fruit industry brought people to the city in droves during its first 100 years. Lockheed and Douglas aerospace plants in the area during World War I and the development of the motion picture industry in the 1920s both helped create a population explosion.

Los Angeles home: the Hollywood Sign; Griffith Observatory; the Getty Center; the Walt Disney Concert Hall at the Music Center in Downtown L.A.; the Hollywood Walk of Fame; the TCL Chinese Theatre; Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center; the Battleship USS Iowa located at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro; Air Force One at the Ronald Reagan Library; and Universal Studios Hollywood, with its dynamic immersive experience, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™.

History of Los Angeles

Los Angeles became part of the U.S. in January 1847.

Sept. 4, 1781 is the city’s official birthdate, when 44 village settlers from the Mexican provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa made their home in what is now Downtown Los Angeles. Two of the 44 settlers were Spaniards, while the others were Indians, Blacks and Mestizos of mixed ancestry. The Spanish named the new settlement El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles, or The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels. After the territory changed hands from Spain to Mexico, the town was officially declared a city in 1835.

Los Angeles Population

City of Los Angeles:                               4.0 Million
County of Los Angeles:                        10.2 Million
Los Angeles Five-County Area:            18.8 Million

Los Angeles Airports

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX): 87.5 million
Bob Hope Airport (Burbank): 5.2 million
Long Beach Airport: 3.8 million

The People of Los Angeles

The diverse, multiethnic population of Los Angeles today distinguishes the city as the cultural hub of the Pacific Rim. People from more than 140 countries, speaking 224 different identified languages, currently call Los Angeles home. Los Angeles does not have a majority population.

Hispanic or Latino (of any race):              48.6 percent
White, non-Hispanic:                                26.1 percent
Asian/Pacific Islander:                              15.4 percent
African-American:                                       9.0 percent
American Indian/Others:                             1.4 percent

Source: U.S. Census Bureau – 2018 American Community Survey