The glamour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Sunset Strip make Los Angeles, California an alluring destination. If you ?Love LA? and are thinking of heading to Los Angeles, consider this snapshot of the city.
Los Angeles is the second biggest city in the United States with an estimated 3,845,000 people. The metropolitan area is also the second largest in the country, approaching 14 million residents. Los Angeles is a very large area, encompassing 469 square miles. So big, it contains mountains high enough to offer winter skiing at times when surfers are riding waves at the beach. The city has some notable communities within its boundaries and thirty suburbs with populations of 80,000 residents or more. You won't be far from places like West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Burbank or Santa Monica. LA?s allure includes its downtown, shopping and dining, beaches, mansions and canyon homes. But beneath it all is a troubled, racially divided city with high crime, poverty and cost of living.
Los Angeles has one of the largest Hispanic populations in the country. U.S. Census statistics in 2000 revealed 46.5% of the population was Hispanic, 29.7% White Non-Hispanic, 11.2% African-American, and 10% Asian. Many foreign-born citizens have been picking Los Angeles, making up 40% of the city's diverse racial population. The average age of residents is about three years below that national average of 36.4. Crime has been high in Los Angeles but trending downward, nearing the national average in 2005. The number of murders dropped from 654 in 2002 to 489 in 2005. House values in Los Angeles and much of California have risen beyond affordable. The median home value in LA rose from $221,600 in 2000 to $513,800 five years later. The Los Angeles metro area was dubbed the least affordable place in the country to buy a home in 2005. According to Wells Fargo and National Association of Home Builders, just 1.8% of houses for sale were affordable to those earning the city's median income. Less than 40% of all homes in Los Angeles were owner-occupied, extremely low considering a 66.9% rate for the entire U.S. For renters, prices typically start around $1200 a month in outlying areas for one-bed studio apartments to $2500 and more in popular areas.
Los Angeles is well known for its involvement in the motion picture, television and record industries. The city is also the largest major manufacturing center in the U.S. with roughly 500,000 workers. Only Detroit produces more autos than LA. Many foreign and U.S. automakers have located operations in the city. Biotechnology has emerged as one of California's largest employers with 210,000 jobs, surpassing even the entertainment industry. The average household income in Los Angeles was $42,667 in 2005, below the U.S. median of $46,242. At 20.1%, residents living in poverty far exceeded the national average of 13.3%.
Many consider starting over in Los Angeles due to its warm climate. The weather can vary by location but is primarily warm, with moist Pacific air that keeps temperatures mild yearlong. Low to high temperatures average from 44 to 68 degrees in January. July finds average temperatures from 61 to 89. Summers are dry with 329 days of sun on average each year. About 18.2 inches of precipitation falls annually. The climate also includes hot, dusty winds from the surrounding mountains near Santa Ana and occasional flash floods in the canyons that cause mudslides. LA is known for its smog and air pollution that has been improving in recent years.
Commute times are long for residents of Los Angeles. The city is still one of the worst places to drive, according to Cambridge Systematics for the American Highway Users Alliance. The average travel time to work was nearly one-half hour, about 4.5 minutes above the national average. The huge, intricate layout of limited-access freeways presents problems for a city trying to accommodate heavy commuter traffic. An ever-expanding metro transit system offers frequent local and express service. Air travel is provided by Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the fourth largest airport in the world for its passenger service. Greyhound and Amtrak also operate in the city. Los Angeles is home to two major universities: (UCLA) University of California, Los Angeles (35,930 full-time students) and (USC) University of Southern California (26,718 FT students).
