The City of Lakewood is located in southern Los Angeles County, 23 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The area of the city is about 9.5 square miles.

Lakewood incorporated on April 16, 1954.

Lakewood’s population was estimated by the State Department of Finance to be 80,952 on January 1, 2000.

The economic base of the city is primarily commercial/ retail. Almost 3,000 businesses are located in Lakewood.

Contract services represent about 40 percent of the city’s operating budget. Lakewood contracts with private firms for trash collection, signal maintenance, and street sweeping. By contract, Los Angeles County provides law enforcement, road repair, building inspection, and street light maintenance. Parks, recreation and cultural activities, community development programs, parkways, medians and tree maintenance, the water utility and general administrative services are provided directly by the city.

Lakewood is a general law city. The five city council members are elected for overlapping four-year terms. The mayor is selected by the council from among its members and serves for a one-year term. The city council appoints a city manager and a city attorney. In addition, the council appoints the Community Safety Commission, the Planning Environment Commission, and the Recreation and Community Services Commission. The city council also sits as the Board of Directors of the Lakewood Redevelopment Agency and the Lakewood Housing Authority.

Lakewood is predominantly owner-occupied (about 65 percent in 2000). In Los Angeles County, less than half of the total housing units were owner-occupied in 2000. Lakewood is predominantly a single-family community with 85 percent of its housing units being single-family detached structures.

Lakewood has about 150 miles of streets and 300 miles of sidewalks. More than 36,000 streets line city streets and shade city parks. About 150 acres of the city are devoted to parks and other landscaped open space.