Los Angeles here we; Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City, with a population of 3.8 million, on a land area of 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km2). It is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside combined statistical area, which contains nearly 17.8 million people and which is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world.