CA · Los Angeles County · 3,898,747 (2020) · 2nd-largest US city · Pacific time
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles occupies a broad coastal basin in Southern California between the Pacific Ocean and the San Gabriel Mountains. It is the second-largest city in the United States and the largest in California.
- State
- California
- County
- Los Angeles County
- Population (2020)
- 3,898,747
- Rank
- 2nd in the US
- Coordinates
- 34.05°N, 118.24°W
- Time zone
- Pacific
- Metro area
- about 13.2 million
- State capital
- No – Sacramento
Where Los Angeles is
Los Angeles is at 34.05°N, 118.24°W in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States. The city limits are irregular: they cover 469 square miles, take in the San Fernando Valley north of the Santa Monica Mountains, and reach the sea only through a narrow corridor to the harbor at San Pedro and Wilmington, 20 miles south of downtown. Neighbouring cities such as Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena and Long Beach are separate municipalities surrounded or bordered by Los Angeles. Downtown sits about 285 feet above sea level; the city's highest point is Mount Lukens at 5,074 feet in the San Gabriel foothills.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 3,898,747 people, ranking Los Angeles 2nd in the US behind New York and ahead of Chicago by about 1.15 million. The Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim metropolitan area (Los Angeles and Orange counties) has about 13.2 million people, the second-largest metro in the country; the wider combined area including the Inland Empire and Ventura County is close to 18 million. Because the region is spread over many independent cities, less than a third of the metro population lives within Los Angeles itself.
Geography
- Coast — about 75 miles of Pacific shoreline in the county, from Malibu through Santa Monica Bay to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the Port of Los Angeles.
- Mountains — the Santa Monica Mountains run east–west through the city and separate the basin from the San Fernando Valley; the San Gabriel Mountains (Mount San Antonio, 10,064 ft) close the basin to the northeast.
- Rivers — the Los Angeles River flows 51 miles from the Valley to Long Beach, almost entirely in a concrete channel; the San Gabriel River drains the eastern basin.
- Climate zones — Mediterranean on the coast, semi-arid inland; the Mojave Desert begins 60 miles north beyond the mountains.
Nearest large cities
San Diego is the nearest of the fifty largest cities; the Bay Area is a six-hour drive north on Interstate 5. Distances are approximate road miles from downtown.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego | CA | 120 | SE |
| Las Vegas | NV | 270 | NE |
| Fresno | CA | 220 | N |
| San Jose | CA | 340 | NW |
| Phoenix | AZ | 370 | E |
Is Los Angeles the state capital?
No. California's capital is Sacramento, about 385 miles to the north in the Central Valley. Los Angeles has never been the state capital, although it was a provincial capital under Mexico in the 1830s and 1840s. It is, however, the seat of Los Angeles County and by far the largest city in the state — San Diego, the second-largest, has just over a third of its population.
Related maps
- California map — the state with all 58 counties.
- Sacramento — why the capital is not Los Angeles.
- US cities map.
- Mojave Desert and Sierra Nevada maps.
- Nearby cities: San Diego, Las Vegas, Fresno.
- Pacific division · Pacific Time Zone.