Cerritos

History

Cerritos was originally inhabited by Native Americans belonging to the Tongva (or "People of the Earth"). The Tongva were called the "Gabrieleños" by the Spanish settlers after the nearby Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. The Tongva were the largest group of indigenous peoples in Southern California as well as the most developed in the region. The Tongva lived off the land, deriving food from the animals or plants that could be gathered, snared or hunted, and grinding acorns as a staple. No Tongva village sites were found within the city, but it was a common passing point between the natives. Beginning in the late 15th century, Spanish explorers arrived in the New World and worked their way to the California coast in 1542. The colonization process included "civilizing" the native populations in California by establishing various missions. Soon afterward, a town called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (today known as Los Angeles) would be founded and prosper with the aid of subjects from New Spain and Native American labor. One soldier, Manuel Nieto, was granted a large plot of land by the Spanish King Charles III in 1784, which he named Rancho Los Nietos. It covered of eastern Los Angeles County and western Orange County. Its population grew from 4,373 in 1968 to 40,750 in 1973. A total of 82 people died, including 15 people on the ground. The city's transportation shuttle system, Cerritos on Wheels (COW), went into service in August 1993. In 1994, the Cerritos Towne Center was completed, with the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts within first opening its doors in January a year earlier. To celebrate the coming of the millennium in 2000, the city conducted a $40 million renovation of its library, which was completed in 2002. In…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of ; of it is land and of it (1.48%) is water. Cerritos lies along the Los Angeles County and Orange County border. The cities bordering Cerritos on the Los Angeles County side include Artesia in the center, Bellflower, Lakewood, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs and La Mirada. Buena Park and La Palma border the city on the Orange County side. Other cities in the region include Cypress in Orange County, and Hawaiian Gardens and Long Beach in Los Angeles County. The former postal ZIP code of Cerritos was 90701 and was shared with the city of Artesia; however, it was later changed to the exclusive 90703 to accommodate the increasing number of new addresses in the city during the mid-1990s. Cerritos, as well as most of coastal Southern California, generally has a Mediterranean climate. Summers are warm to hot, and winters are mild, rarely falling below freezing. Precipitation occurs predominantly during the winter months. Cerritos also has a unique "semi-marine" climate pattern within Los Angeles County. The fog that typically covers the beach cities rarely reaches Cerritos, but the breeze that comes along the San Gabriel River from the Pacific Ocean has a significant cooling effect. As a result, Cerritos is rarely affected by the smog, Santa Ana winds and smothering heat of the Los Angeles Basin.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  43,736
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  42,426
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  36,738
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  35,656
• Allen's Hummingbird

  Selasphorus sasin (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  34,035
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  29,555
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  28,885
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  26,870

Largest nearby schools

• Downey High
  High · Downey · 4,063 students · 23.4:1 ratio
• Polytechnic High
  High · Long Beach · 3,952 students · 23.7:1 ratio
• Paramount High
  High · Paramount · 3,737 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• Wilson High
  High · Long Beach · 3,515 students · 23.8:1 ratio
• Warren (Earl) High
  High · Downey · 3,437 students · 23.7:1 ratio
• Millikan High
  High · Long Beach · 3,311 students · 24:1 ratio
• Lakewood High
  High · Lakewood · 2,761 students · 22.3:1 ratio
• Mayfair High
  High · Lakewood · 2,578 students · 22.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.16 — 2026-10-09
  2 km SW of Signal Hill, CA
• M 2.7 — 2026-10-08
  2 km WNW of Fontana, CA
• M 2.51 — 2026-10-05
  31 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 2.81 — 2026-10-05
  32 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 3.48 — 2026-10-05
  31 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 3.81008714964485 — 2026-09-30
  4 km SE of Piru, CA