Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Glendale is a city of 187,160, and it grades C+ overall, 316th among California's 841 graded towns. Its public schools beat 83% of California towns on state tests and graduation and it is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. The trade-offs: the typical home is worth about $1.2 million, 12.2 years of the Los Angeles metro’s $96K median household income, and FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 93% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. 30% of the land in Glendale is conserved, against 4.2% in California’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Glendale has 14 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them San Rafael Rancho and James Daniel Derby House. On the outdoors, just 75 of California’s 1,064 towns do better.
Where Glendale beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Census counts: 2,746 in 1910, 196,543 in 2020. The archive holds 30 old photos and papers going back to 1911 and 6 maps from 1894 on.
14 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Glendale is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Glendale. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi LandmarkHollywood Walk of Fame10.0M visitors a year
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaSoFi Stadium
Big draw5 mi LandmarkHollywood Sign
Big draw12 mi MuseumLucas Museum of Narrative Art
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaDodger StadiumHollywood Walk of Fame: BenSherman, Public domain · SoFi Stadium: Thank You (21 Millions+) views, CC BY 2.0 · Hollywood Sign: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: Kriddl, CC0 · Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: CanonStarGal, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dodger Stadium: Frederick Dennstedt from los angeles, usa, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Glendale, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Glendale.
Glendale keeps more of its land conserved than most of California and has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of California.
Its 5,877 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 92% of California towns.
81 miles of trail in 34 parks and preserves. Glendale’s trail density is 2.6 miles per square mile, where California’s towns sit at 1.0 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Deukmejian Wilderness Park, at 725 acres with 7.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Brand Park | 8.1 mi | 662 |
| 2. Deukmejian Wilderness Park | 7.7 mi | 725 |
| 3. San Rafael Hills Open Space | 7.5 mi | 592 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for schools comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.17M.
Its public schools are run by the Glendale Unified school district. Three of its 40 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eleanor J. Toll MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,412 | – |
| Glendale HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,066 | B |
| Anderson W. Clark Magnet HighTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,136 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
At 12.2 years of the Los Angeles metro’s $96K median household income, the typical home (about $1.17M) costs more against local pay than in 86% of California towns; that ratio is one input to its D− for cost of living.
35% of households own their home in Glendale. The typical Glendale home is worth about $1,173,000, up 1.4% in a year, 54% above the California typical home. The median rent in Glendale is $2,182 a month.
| Glendale | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 35% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $2,182 a month | $1,895 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 62% | 55% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Since 1978, 36 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Glendale.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes fell from 4,574 to 3,880 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Glendale’s property crime rate is 18.5 per 1,000 residents. Within California, it does better than 48% of towns.
| Glendale | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 18.5 per 1,000 residents | 13.3 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.3 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its widest gap with California is no health insurance: 6.8% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 10.6% statewide.
Glendale beats the California average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 25% of Glendale adults have obesity.
| Glendale | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 29% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 36% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 72% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 31% | 35% |
| What stands out | Glendale | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.8% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 12% | 14.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 7.9% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
January nights average 45.5°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 88.1°.
Glendale has warm winters and warm summers, with very little rain. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Glendale | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 46°F | 40°F | 22°F |
| July high | 88°F | 89°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Glendale has about as many jobs (90,472) as working residents, but only 16,205 people both live and work here.
About one in 5 of Glendale’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Glendale grew to 90,472 in 2023, 9,695 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Los Angeles (37%), Burbank (8%) and Pasadena (4%).
| Glendale | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 21% | 14% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
54 within 15 miles of the center of Glendale
About 8 of every 100 Glendale residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
3 colleges in town.
14 places in Glendale on the National Register of Historic Places.
41 notable people were born in Glendale.
City in California, United States
Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, in the U.S. state of California. It is located about 10 miles (16 km) north of Downtown Los Angeles. As of 2025, Glendale had a Census-estimated population of 187,823 making it the 4th-most populous city in Los Angeles County and the 24th-most populous city in California. Glendale—along with neighboring Burbank and nearby Hollywood—has served as a major production center for the American film industry, and especially animation, and is home to Disneytoon Studios, Marvel Animation, and DreamWorks Animation.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Glendale.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glendale | #316 | C+ | D− | C | A− | B+ |
| La Crescenta-Montrose | #98 | B+ | D− | — | A− | A |
| Los Angeles | #613 | D | D− | D | B− | B− |
| La Cañada Flintridge | #64 | A− | D− | B− | A+ | A+ |
| Burbank | #346 | C | D− | D | A− | A− |
| Pasadena | #421 | C | D− | D | B | A− |
La Crescenta-Montrose reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Glendale with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Glendale grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #316 of 841 in California. It grades B+ for health, C for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Within California, it does better than 48% of towns.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
41 notable people were born here, including Paul Walker and Robert Englund.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
