Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, with the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County at its center, and Orange County to the southeast. The Los Angeles–Long Beach combined statistical area (CSA) covers , making it the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area. The contiguous urban area is , whereas the remainder mostly consists of mountain and desert areas. With an estimated population of over 18.3 million (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023), it is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, behind New York, as well as one of the largest megacities in the world. World's Largest Metropolitan Areas, 2012
In addition to being the nexus of the global entertainment industry, including films, television, and recorded music, Greater Los Angeles is also an important center of international trade, education, media, business, tourism, technology, and sports. It is the third-largest metropolitan area by nominal GDP in the world with an economy exceeding $1 trillion in output, behind New York City and Tokyo.
There are three contiguous component urban areas in Greater Los Angeles: the Inland Empire, which can be broadly defined as Riverside and San Bernardino counties; the Ventura/Oxnard metropolitan area (Ventura County); and the Los Angeles metropolitan area (also known as Metropolitan Los Angeles or Metro LA) consisting of Los Angeles and Orange counties only. The Census Bureau designates the latter as the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim metropolitan statistical area (MSA), the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere and the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States, by population of 13 million as of the 2020 U.S. census. It has a total area of . Although San Diego–Tijuana borders the Greater Los Angeles area at San Clemente and Temecula, it is not part of it as the two urban areas are not geographically contiguous due to the presence of Camp Pendleton. However, both form part of the Southern California megalopolis which extends into Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
Definitions
Area (km2) Population (2024) GDP(million US$, 2024) GDP per capita(US$) Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, CA (MSA) 12,580 12,906,895 1,354,718 104,961 Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario, CA (MSA) 70,610 4,747,876 272,671 57,430 Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura, CA (MSA) 4,770 833,431 69,606 83,517 Los Angeles–Long Beach, CA CSA 87,960 18,488,202 1,696,995 91,788
Los Angeles metropolitan area
The Los Angeles metropolitan area is defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget as the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), with a 2021 population of 12,997,353. The MSA is in turn made up of two "metropolitan divisions": Los Angeles–Long Beach–Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division, coterminous with Los Angeles County (2023 population 9,663,345) Anaheim–Santa Ana–Irvine, CA Metropolitan Division, coterminous with Orange County (2023 population 3,135,755)
The MSA is the most populous metropolitan area in the Western United States and second-most populous in the United States. It has at its core the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim urban area, which had a population of 12,237,376 as of the 2020 census.
Greater Los Angeles The U.S. Census Bureau also defines a wider commercial region based on commuting patterns, the Los Angeles–Long Beach, CA Combined Statistical Area (CSA), more commonly known as the Greater Los Angeles Area, with an estimated population of 18,316,743 in 2023. The total land area of the CSA is 33,955 sq. mi (87,945 km2).
The CSA includes three component metropolitan areas: The Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, CA MSA (2023 pop. 12,799,100), consisting of: Los Angeles County, California (2023 pop. 9,663,345) Orange County, California (2023 pop. 3,135,755) The Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura, CA MSA, coterminous with Ventura County (2023 pop. 829,590) The Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario, CA MSA (2023 pop. 4,688,053), consisting of: Riverside County, California (2023 pop. 2,492,442) San Bernardino County, California (2023 pop. 2,195,611)
History Nearly all of the metropolitan area of Greater Los Angeles is located within the homelands of the Tongva, otherwise referred to as Tovaangar.
Geography
Urban form
Los Angeles has long been famous for its sprawl, but this has to do more with its status in history as the "poster child" of large cities that grew up with suburban-style patterns of development, rather than how it ranks in sprawl among American metro areas today, now that suburban and exurban-style development is present across the country. The Los Angeles–Orange County metro area was the most densely populated "urbanized area" (as defined by the United States Census Bureau) in the United States in 2000, with .American Factfinder, United States Census Bureau, Table: "GCT-PH1-R. Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density (geographies ranked by total population): 2000" from Data Set: "Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data", accessed October 10, 2007 at: See also: List of United States urban areas For comparison, the "New York–Newark" Urbanized Area had a population density of .
Los Angeles' reputation for sprawl is due to the fact that the city grew from relative obscurity to one of the country's ten largest cities (i.e. 10th largest city in 1920), at a time when suburban patterns of growth first became possible due to electric streetcars and automobiles. The city was also the first large American city where, in the 1920s, major clusters of regional employment, shopping, and culture were already being built outside the traditional downtown areas – in edge cities such as Mid-Wilshire, Miracle Mile and Hollywood. This pattern of growth continued ever outward, more so when the freeway system was built starting in the 1950s; thus Greater Los Angeles was the earliest large American metropolitan area with a decentralized structure. Its major commercial, financial, and cultural institutions are geographically dispersed rather than being concentrated in a single downtown or central area. Also, the population density of Los Angeles proper is low (approximately 8,300 people per square mile) when compared to some other large American cities such as New York City (27,500), San Francisco (17,000), Boston (13,300), and Chicago (11,800).Haughton, Graham, and Colin Hunter, Sustainable Cities, London: Routledge, 2003: 81. Densities are particularly high within a 5-mile radius of downtown, where some neighborhoods exceed 20,000 people per square mile. What gives the entire Los Angeles metro region a high density is the fact that many of the city's suburbs and satellite cities have high density rates.Bruegmann, Robert. Sprawl: A Compact History. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2005: 65. Within its urbanized areas, Los Angeles is noted for having small lot sizes and low-rise buildings. Buildings in the area are low when compared to other large cities, mainly due to zoning regulations. Los Angeles became a major city just as the Pacific Electric Railway spread population to smaller cities much as interurbans did in East Coast cities. In the first decades of the twentieth century, the area was marked by a network of fairly dense but separate cities linked by rail. The ascendance of the automobile helped fill in the gaps between these commuter towns with lower-density settlements.
Starting in the early twentieth century, there was a large growth in population on the western edges of the city moving to the San Fernando Valley and out into the Conejo Valley in eastern Ventura County. Many working-class whites migrated to this area during the 1960s and 1970s out of East and Central Los Angeles.Gutierrez, David. The Columbia History of Latinos in the United States. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003: 94. As a result, there was a large growth in population into the Conejo Valley and into Ventura County through the US 101 corridor. Making the US 101 a full freeway in the 1960s and expansions that followed helped make commuting to Los Angeles easier and opened the way for development westward. Development in Ventura County and along the US 101 corridor remains controversial, with open-space advocates battling those who feel business development is necessary to economic growth.Curtiss, Aaron. "Bitter Land-Use Fights Seen For 101 Corridor Development." Los Angeles Times November 20, 1993: B1. Although the area still has abundant amounts of open space and land, almost all of it was put aside and mandated never to be developed as part of the master plan of each city. Because of this, the area which was once a relatively inexpensive area to buy real estate saw rising real estate prices well into the 2000s.Olsen, Andy. "Local Home Prices Soar in May." Los Angeles Times June 23, 2003: B3. Median home prices in the Conejo Valley for instance, ranged from $700,000 to $2.2 million in 2003.Griggs, Gregory. "Local Homes Get Even Pricier." Los Angeles Times August 21, 2003: B1. According to Forbes, "it's nearly impossible" to find reasonably priced real estate in California, and the prices will continue to increase.
The Los Angeles area continues to grow, principally on the periphery where new, cheaper, undeveloped areas are being sought. As such, in these areas, populations as well as housing prices exploded, although the housing bubble popped late in the decade of the 2000s. Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which contain large swaths of desert, attracted most of the population increase between 2000 and 2006. Growth continues not only outside the existing urbanized area but also adjacent to existing development in the central areas. As in virtually all US core cities, there is now vigorous residential development in the downtown area with both new buildings and renovation of former office buildings. The Los Angeles Downtown News keeps a list of ongoing development projects, updated every quarter. Over the course of the 21st century, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency and the region's water security has become a development issue.
Major business districts and edge cities The traditional business district and historical downtown of Greater Los Angeles is Downtown Los Angeles. However, most commercial activity is found outside downtown Los Angeles in the edge cities of Century City, Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown, Hollywood, the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, Universal City, the Warner Center in Woodland Hills, and Sherman Oaks and Encino, notable for existing alongside extensive suburban development.
In fact, the Los Angeles area is considered a classic example of a metropolitan area that developed in such fashion.
Furthermore, since the COVID-19 pandemic Downtown Los Angeles has experienced staggering commercial vacancy rates, urban blight, homelessness, drug use, and crime. Entire skyscrapers were reportedly sold for less than large estates in Bel Air.
Within the broader county of Los Angeles and metro area, areas such as Downtown Long Beach, downtown Pasadena, downtown Glendale, and downtown Burbank, Downtown Santa Ana, Downtown Anaheim, Downtown Riverside, Downtown San Bernardino, downtown Irvine, and downtown Ontario are notable.
Identity Employment is not only in the downtown area, but consistently occurs outside the central core. As such, many people commute throughout the city and suburbs in various directions for their work and daily activities, with a large portion heading to the municipalities that are outside the city of Los Angeles.