287 articles
La Cañada Flintridge, California
La Cañada Flintridge is a Los Angeles County, California city incorporated December 8, 1976 from La Cañada and Flintridge, population 20,573 (2020), a contract city with council-manager government, home to JPL, and known for its no-hyphen name and single-family housing.
La Quinta, California
La Quinta is a Coachella Valley city in Riverside County, California, incorporated May 1, 1982 and named for the 1926 La Quinta Resort. Population 37,558 (2020 census), 39,440 estimated 2025; 35.26 square miles; median household income $99,250.
Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach is a seaside resort city in Orange County, California, incorporated 1927, known for its art colony, Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters, and fully protected state marine reserves along its coastline.
Lake Elsinore, California
Lake Elsinore is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, on the shore of Southern California's largest natural lake. Incorporated in 1888 as Elsinore, it has about 75,000 residents.
Lake Forest, California
Lake Forest, California (formerly El Toro), a city in Orange County incorporated December 20, 1991; population 85,858 in 2020, largest employer Oakley Inc., named for eucalyptus plantings and lakes.
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego, Oregon: suburban city eight miles southwest of Portland, founded 1850 as Oswego, Oregon's first iron town, renamed 1960; centered on privately managed Oswego Lake with contested public access.
Lakewood, California
Lakewood, also known as Lakewood, CA, is a city in Los Angeles County, California, incorporated in 1954 as a master-planned community of about 71,316 residents.
Lancaster, California
Lancaster, California: high-desert Antelope Valley city in northern Los Angeles County, about 60 miles from Los Angeles. Founded as an 1876 Southern Pacific railroad water stop, incorporated 1977; about 170,000 residents, aerospace- and healthcare-driven economy.
Leavenworth, Washington
Leavenworth, Washington, a Cascade Mountain city of about 2,000, is a former logging and Great Northern Railway town rebuilt in Bavarian style from 1965 as a private tourism strategy, drawing over a million annual visitors.
Livermore, California
Livermore, California: Alameda County city founded 1869, easternmost in the Bay Area, population 87,955 (2020). Known for its 50-plus wineries, one of California's oldest wine regions, and Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories.
Loma Linda, California
Loma Linda, California: San Bernardino County city (incorporated 1970, pop. ~24,791), home of Loma Linda University and Medical Center; often cited as a Blue Zone, a claim lacking epidemiological confirmation.
Lompoc, California
Lompoc (Lom-poke) is a Central Coast California city in Santa Barbara County, incorporated 1888 from an 1874 temperance colony; population about 43,000, majority Hispanic/Latino, near Vandenberg Space Force Base and La Purisima Mission.
Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California: coastal city in southern Los Angeles County, incorporated 1897, population about 450,000. Known for the Port of Long Beach, the 1921 oil boom, the 1933 earthquake and Field Act, the Queen Mary, and diverse neighborhoods.
Los Altos, California
Los Altos, California: Silicon Valley residential city in Santa Clara County, incorporated 1952, population about 31,000, founded 1906-07 by Paul Shoup's Altos Land Co. around apricot orchards and the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, second-largest U.S. city, founded 1781 as El Pueblo de la Reina de los Ángeles, incorporated 1850; 3.87 million residents (2025), major port, and Tongva heritage.
Los Gatos, California
Los Gatos, California: incorporated 1887 town in Santa Clara County at the Santa Cruz Mountains base, named for La Rinconada de Los Gatos rancho; 33,529 residents in 2020, high-income Silicon Valley suburb.
Lynwood, California
Lynwood, California, a city in Los Angeles County incorporated July 16, 1921, population 67,265 at the 2020 census, 87.7% Hispanic or Latino, governed by council-city manager, served by Lynwood Unified School District, between Interstates 105 and 710.
Malibu, California
Malibu is a coastal city in northwest Los Angeles County, California, incorporated March 28, 1991, with 21 miles of Pacific coastline, about 10,300 residents, famous beaches and surfing, and major wildfire and coastal-erosion hazards.
Mammoth Lakes, California
Mammoth Lakes is a Mono County, California resort town in the Eastern Sierra, incorporated in 1984, home to about 7,100 people and Mammoth Mountain's 3,500 skiable acres, with a tourism-based economy and acute second-home housing pressures.
Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach, California: coastal city in Los Angeles County's South Bay, incorporated 1912, population about 33,000-35,500, 928-foot pier, 2.1 miles of beachfront, median home value over $2 million, site of Bruce's Beach land return.
Martinez, California
Martinez, California: county seat of Contra Costa County, incorporated 1876, population about 37,000. Home of the John Muir National Historic Site, the 1849 Martinez Adobe, and major oil refineries.
McFarland, California
McFarland is a city in Kern County, California, in the San Joaquin Valley, founded 1909, incorporated 1957, population about 14,000, mostly Latino, an agricultural community known for the 2015 film McFarland, USA.
Medford, Oregon
Medford, Oregon: county seat of Jackson County in the Rogue Valley, founded 1883 as an Oregon and California Railroad town, incorporated 1885, named by engineer David Loring after Medford, Massachusetts; 2020 population 85,824.
Medina, Washington
Medina, Washington: small affluent residential city in King County on Lake Washington's eastern shore, northwest of Bellevue; incorporated 1955, ZIP 98039 is the state's priciest, home to Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California: San Mateo County city named in 1854 after Menlough, Galway, Ireland; reincorporated 1927; home of Meta headquarters, SRI International, Sand Hill Road venture capital, and California's oldest railroad station.
Merced, California
Merced, California: Central Valley city founded in 1872 as a Southern Pacific railroad town, nicknamed Gateway to Yosemite via the 1907 Yosemite Valley Railroad; home of UC Merced (opened 2005), population 99,724 in 2025.
Mercer Island, Washington
Mercer Island, Washington: an affluent residential city on an island in Lake Washington between Seattle and Bellevue, incorporated 1960, population 25,748 (2020), accessed only via Interstate 90.
Mill Valley, California
Mill Valley, California: incorporated 1900 in Marin County, 14 miles north of San Francisco; about 14,000 residents in 4.78 square miles, median household income $206,212, council-manager government, notable for Mount Tamalpais, wildfire and flood hazards, and high housing costs.
Milpitas, California
Milpitas, California: a Santa Clara County city at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay, incorporated 1954, known as the Crossroads of Silicon Valley, with about 80,000 residents and major tech employers.
Mission Viejo, California
Mission Viejo is a master-planned city in southern Orange County, California, begun in 1963 on 10,000 acres of Rancho Mission Viejo, incorporated March 31, 1988, population about 90,000, with 55 parks and Lake Mission Viejo.