Los Angelesruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Film, television & streaming
Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Disney, Sony Pictures
Still the global centre, though production has been leaving for Georgia, New Mexico and abroad chasing tax credits — a live and anxious topic in the local industry.
Aerospace & defence
SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, JPL, Aerospace Corporation
Southern California invented the aerospace industry and SpaceX in Hawthorne is its loudest current chapter; JPL in Pasadena runs NASA's robotic planetary missions.
Music & recording
Universal Music, Interscope, Capitol Records, Warner Records
The recording industry's centre of gravity, and unlike film it has not meaningfully relocated.
Fashion & apparel
Reformation, Fear of God, Guess, Skechers, Vans
The Downtown Fashion District is the largest apparel manufacturing cluster left in the United States, though most volume production moved offshore decades ago.
Logistics & trade
Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Amazon, UPS
The San Pedro Bay port complex is the largest container gateway in the Western Hemisphere and the region's least glamorous, most consequential industry.
Technology & gaming
Snap, Riot Games, Ring, Activision Blizzard, Google (Playa Vista)
'Silicon Beach' from Santa Monica to Playa Vista is a genuine cluster, weighted to consumer, adtech and games rather than enterprise software.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.