The County of Los Angeles is the most populous county in the United States, with more than 10 million inhabitants as of 2017. The County’s sprawling 4,083 square miles consists of 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas with a wide range of topography including mountain ranges, valleys, forests, islands, lakes, rivers, and desert.
Home to more than one-quarter of all California residents, you might ask ‘where is the best place to live within LA County?’ That’s why HomeSnacks, a website that combines data from dozens of sources, went on the hunt to find the greatest suburbs in LA. HomeSnacks looked at 77 suburbs in Los Angeles to find the best of the best. Unsurprisingly, LA’s South Bay completely dominated the list with the top 6 slots!
Los Angeles Panorama from Griffith Observatory 2013, Courtesy Tuxyso2018 Ranking of the 10 Best Suburbs Around Los Angeles:
Hermosa Beach
- Population: 19,726
- Unemployment Rate: 4.1%
- Median Home Price: $1,166,800
- Median Income: $121,345
- Search for Homes in Hermosa Beach
Manhattan Beach
- Population: 35,573
- Unemployment Rate: 5.1%
- Median Home Price: $1,537,200
- Median Income: $144,868
- Search for Homes in Manhattan Beach
Palos Verdes Estates
- Population: 13,582
- Unemployment Rate: 2.0%
- Median Home Price: $1,609,500
- Median Income: $200,766
- Search for Homes in Palos Verdes Estates
Redondo Beach
- Population: 67,664
- Unemployment Rate: 5.8%
- Median Home Price: $775,300
- Median Income: $103,782
- Search for Homes in Redondo Beach
Rancho Palos Verdes
- Population: 42,412
- Unemployment Rate: 4.3%
- Median Home Price: $1,003,300
- Median Income: $120,668
- Search for Homes in Rancho Palos Verdes
Rolling Hills Estates
- Population: 8,206
- Unemployment Rate: 4.4%
- Median Home Price: $1,096,400
- Median Income: $129,728
- Search for Homes in Rolling Hills Estates
San Marino
- Population: 13,324
- Unemployment Rate: 4.3%
- Median Home Price: $1,518,400
- Median Income: $139,792
- Search for Homes in San Marino
Sierra Madre
- Population: 11,067
- Unemployment Rate: 5.3%
- Median Home Price: $861,200
- Median Income: $95,256
- Search for Homes in Sierra Madre
Calabasas
- Population: 24,091
- Unemployment Rate: 5.2%
- Median Home Price: $926,800
- Median Income: $111,111
- Search for Homes in Calabasas
La Habra Heights
- Population: 5,406
- Unemployment Rate: 4.9%
- Median Home Price: $893,200
- Median Income: $110,329
- Search for Homes in La Habra Heights
Methodology:
HomeSnacks used the following list of criteria to grade suburbs in LA:
- Low unemployment rate
- High Median household incomes
- Population density
- High home values
- A lot of college educated people
- Low poverty
- High rate of insured families
Then they used data from the American Community Survey (2012-2016) to research each suburb. HomeSnacks defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of the City of Los Angeles. They limited their analysis to places that have at least 4,000 people, which left them with a total of 77 suburbs to evaluate around LA. They ranked each place with scores from 1 to 77 in each category, with 1 as the best. Then, they averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.
What’s HomeSnacks?
HomeSnacks combines recent data from the Census, FBI, OpenStreetMaps, and dozens of other sources into bite-sized studies to understand what it’s like to live in different communities across the country.
