135 articles
Agoura Hills, California
Agoura Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, in the Santa Monica Mountains foothills near the eastern Conejo Valley, straddling U.S. 101 about 36 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, incorporated December 8, 1982.
Alhambra, California
Alhambra, California, a San Gabriel Valley city in Los Angeles County incorporated July 11, 1903 and named by Benjamin Wilson after Washington Irving's book; 82,868 residents in 2020, 51% Asian, part of the Chinese ethnoburb.
Anaheim, California
Anaheim, California: Orange County's most populous city (346,824 in 2020), founded 1857 as a German vineyard colony, incorporated 1876, home to the Disneyland Resort and a tourism-dominated economy.
Apple Valley, California
Apple Valley is a town in San Bernardino County's High Desert, California, incorporated in 1988 with about 75,791 residents (2020), known for its 1920s apple orchards, Bass and Westlund's 1946 land development, and Mojave River water issues.
Arcadia, California
Arcadia, California: San Gabriel Valley city in Los Angeles County, about 13 miles northeast of Los Angeles, incorporated 1903 by Lucky Baldwin. Known for Santa Anita Park, the 127-acre Arboretum, top-ranked Arcadia Unified schools, and a majority-Asian population of about 54,000.
Avalon, California
Avalon, California: the only incorporated city on Santa Catalina Island in Los Angeles County, incorporated 1913, population 3,460 (2020), a resort town of golf carts, the Catalina Casino, and over 1 million annual ferry visitors.
Azusa, California
Azusa, California: general law city in Los Angeles County, 27 miles northeast of Los Angeles at the entrance to San Gabriel Canyon; founded 1887, incorporated 1898; about 50,000 residents, municipal light and water utilities.
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield, California: county seat of Kern County in the San Joaquin Valley, ninth-largest California city (422,165 in 2025), founded by Thomas Baker, boomtown of the 1899 Kern River oilfield, home of the Bakersfield Sound, and ranked worst U.S. city for annual particle pollution.
Barstow, California
Barstow, California: Mojave Desert city in San Bernardino County midway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, founded 1886, incorporated 1947, population about 25,000, at the junction of I-15, I-40, and Routes 58 and 247, home to BNSF's largest classification yard and the approved $4 billion Barstow International Gateway rail project.
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California: independent city (incorporated 1914) surrounded by Los Angeles, population about 31,000, median home value over $2 million, Rodeo Drive luxury retail, own police, fire, and water utility, D Line subway arriving 2026-2027.
Big Bear Lake, California
Big Bear Lake is an incorporated San Bernardino County, California resort city at about 6,759 feet elevation, population about 5,000, built around a snow-fed reservoir dammed in 1884 and 1912, known for Big Bear Mountain Resort skiing and lake recreation.
Bishop, California
Bishop, California: small Inyo County city at the north end of the Owens Valley off US 395, gateway to the High Sierra and Mount Whitney, home of Mule Days, the Bishop Paiute Tribe, and world-class bouldering and trout fishing.
Burbank, California
Burbank, California: charter city in the eastern San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles County, about 12 miles northeast of downtown LA. Known as the Media Capital of the World; 107,337 residents (2020); incorporated 1911; home to Warner Bros., Disney, and Hollywood Burbank Airport.
Calabasas, California
Calabasas is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, incorporated April 5, 1991, with about 22,000 residents, high incomes, and 43 percent protected open space.
Calexico, California
Calexico, California: border city in Imperial County adjacent to Mexicali, founded 1899, incorporated 1908; about 38,600 residents, 97.4% Hispanic; two land ports of entry and a State Auditor high-risk designation removed in 2025.
California City, California
California City, California: Mojave Desert city in Kern County founded by Nat Mendelsohn in 1958, planned for 400,000 residents; incorporated 1965, third-largest California city by land area with only about 13,000 people.
Camarillo, California
Camarillo, California: a Ventura County city incorporated in 1964, named for rancher Adolfo Camarillo of Rancho Calleguas; about 70,000 residents on 20 square miles midway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara on Highway 101.
Carlsbad, California
Carlsbad, California: coastal city in northern San Diego County, 35 miles from San Diego, incorporated 1952, named after Karlsbad, Bohemia. Known for LEGOLAND, seven miles of beaches, surf and skate culture, and North America's largest desalination plant.
Carson, California
Carson, California: a South Bay Los Angeles County city incorporated February 20, 1968, named for George Henry Carson of the Dominguez family's Rancho San Pedro; 95,558 residents in 2020, motto "Future Unlimited."
Cerritos, California
Cerritos, California, formerly Dairy Valley (incorporated April 24, 1956; renamed January 10, 1967), is an 8.9-square-mile charter city in Los Angeles County with 49,578 residents in 2020, known for its master-planned transformation from dairy farms and its library and performing arts center.
Chino Hills, California
Chino Hills is a city in San Bernardino County, California, incorporated December 1, 1991, with about 78,000 residents, 45 square miles of planned suburbs, and Chino Hills State Park's 14,102 preserved acres.
Chino, California
Chino is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, at the western edge of the Inland Empire, with about 97,000 residents (2025 estimate), a dairy-and-agriculture past, and a logistics-based economy.
Chula Vista, California
Chula Vista, California: second-largest city in San Diego County (275,487 in 2020), on San Diego Bay near the Mexican border. Incorporated 1911; once the world's largest lemon-growing center; transformed by Rohr Aircraft in World War II.
City of Industry, California
City of Industry, California: a charter city in the San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles County, incorporated 1957 for commerce. Also called Industry. Almost no residents (440 in 2017) but about 3,000 businesses, 68,000 jobs, and 92% industrial zoning.
Claremont, California
Claremont, California: Los Angeles County city 30 miles east of Los Angeles, incorporated October 3, 1907, known as the City of Trees and home to the seven-institution Claremont Colleges consortium.
Coachella, California
Coachella, California: city in Riverside County at the eastern Coachella Valley, incorporated 1946, name from a printer's error; agricultural, 97% Latino, recently fighting a proposed 450-acre data center campus.
Compton, California
Compton, California, is a city in Los Angeles County known as the Hub City, settled in 1867 and incorporated in 1888, with a 2020 population of 95,740.
Corona, California
Corona, California: city in Riverside County incorporated July 13, 1896, named for its circular Grand Boulevard; founded 1886 as South Riverside, once the Lemon Capital of the World, now about 160,000 residents.
Coronado, California
Coronado, California (The Crown City) is a seaside city in San Diego County on a peninsula across from downtown San Diego, incorporated 1890, home to the 1888 Hotel del Coronado, Naval Air Station North Island, and about 20,000 residents.
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa, California, an Orange County city incorporated June 29, 1953, about a mile from the Pacific coast. Known as the City of the Arts, home to South Coast Plaza, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and action sports headquarters; 2020 population 111,918.