It is the third-most visited city in the U.S. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km 2), and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million residents as of 2022.

The majority of the city proper lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending partly through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to its east. Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate and an ethnically and culturally diverse population, and it is the principal city of a sprawling metropolitan area. With roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020, Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind only New York City it is also the commercial, financial and cultural center of Southern California. 'The Angels'), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S.

Los Angeles ( US: / l ɔː s ˈ æ n dʒ əl ə s/ ⓘ lawss AN-jəl-əss Spanish: Los Ángeles, lit.