Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 82,741, founded in 1905.
Hawthorne grades D overall, 634th of 841 graded towns in California, mostly because of safety. Its crime rate is higher than 89% of U.S. towns, with 470 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. In its favor, it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 94% of U.S. towns. Hawthorne’s July high is 77°F, below both the California town median (89°F) and the median of U.S. towns (85°F). Hawthorne's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 97% of U.S. towns. The typical home is worth about $863K, 9 years of the Los Angeles metro’s $96K median household income.
Where Hawthorne beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Carl WilsonEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Hawthorne is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 94% of comparable towns) to D− for hazard risk (better than 2%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 6,596 in 1930, 88,083 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1850 and 8 maps from 1896 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Hawthorne. Close and well known come first.
Big draw3 mi Stadium & arenaSoFi Stadium
Big draw13 mi LandmarkHollywood Walk of Fame10.0M visitors a year
Big draw8 mi MuseumLucas Museum of Narrative Art
Big draw2 mi Stadium & arenaIntuit Dome
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Big draw26 mi Theme parkDisneyland17.3M visitors a yearSoFi Stadium: Thank You (21 Millions+) views, CC BY 2.0 · Hollywood Walk of Fame: BenSherman, Public domain · Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: Kriddl, CC0 · Intuit Dome: Spatms, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: CanonStarGal, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Disneyland: HarshLight from San Jose, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Hawthorne, 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 Hawthorne.
Hawthorne has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns, has seen reported crime fall beyond ordinary swings and is mostly renters.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 97% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Hawthorne since 1978.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Hawthorne school district. Three of its 24 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wiseburn MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 953 | – |
| Hawthorne HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,675 | C+ |
| Hawthorne Math and Science AcademyTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 567 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Reported crimes fell from 2,469 to 2,020 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Hawthorne’s violent crime rate is 5.7 per 1,000 residents. Hawthorne reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 89% report less. Hawthorne’s property crime rate is 18.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Hawthorne | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.7 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 18.8 per 1,000 residents | 13.3 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
January nights average 48.5°, milder than in 98% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 77.2°.
The January low in Hawthorne is 49°F. Hawthorne has warm winters and pleasant summers, with very little rain. Snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Hawthorne beats the California average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 19. 43% of adults feel lonely in Hawthorne.
| Hawthorne | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 36% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 16% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 22% | 19% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 71% | 72% | 79% |
| What stands out | Hawthorne | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.3% | 6.4% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 4.8% | 5.6% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 24.6% | 14.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Hawthorne for work: only 6% work in town. 16% of Hawthorne residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Hawthorne has added 5,829 jobs, to 27,964 in 2023.
| Hawthorne | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $76,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 11% | 14% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
| Hawthorne | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.3% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Glasgow Park | 0.7 mi | 6 |
| 2. Eucalyptus Park | 0.7 mi | 4 |
| 3. Holly Park | 0.4 mi | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The typical Hawthorne home is worth about $863,000, up 1.6% in a year, 13% above the California typical home.
| Hawthorne | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 27% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,782 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 59% | 55% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
50 within 15 miles of the center of Hawthorne
About 7 of every 100 Hawthorne residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
33 notable people were born in Hawthorne.
City in California, United States
Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is part of a seventeen-city subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area commonly known as the South Bay. As of the 2020 US census, Hawthorne had a population of 88,083. Hawthorne is known as the home of The Beach Boys.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Hawthorne.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawthorne | #634 | D | D− | D | B | C+ |
| Del Aire | #136 | B | D− | — | B+ | A− |
| Lennox | #677 | D | D | — | C+ | C− |
| Inglewood | #758 | D− | D− | D | C | C |
| Lawndale | #610 | D | D− | D | B | C+ |
| West Athens | #523 | C− | D | — | B− | C+ |
| Alondra Park | #395 | C | D− | — | B | B− |
| El Segundo | #199 | B− | D− | D− | A | A+ |
Del Aire, Lennox, West Athens and Alondra Park report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Hawthorne with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Hawthorne grades D overall, better than 8% of U.S. towns and #634 of 841 in California. It grades C+ for health, D for safety and B for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
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−.
33 notable people were born here, including Carl Wilson and Gyasi Zardes.
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