How are we doing, Manhattan Beach? A new study from Beach Cities Health District reveals fascinating details about our city's demographics, health, emotional well-being, and general sense of security.

The 2025-2028 Beach Cities Health District Community Health Report includes information gathered from the 2024 BCHD Community Health Survey, and follow-up focus groups; as well as the California Health Interview Survey, the California Healthy Kids Survey, the California Healthy Places Index, the Gallup Well-Being Index, the federal Healthy People 2030 survey, the Los Angeles County Health Survey, and other regional reports. (For the purposes of this study, "Beach Cities" refers to Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach.)

What does Manhattan Beach look like? For starters, there are 35,123 of us, and our population is perfectly split (50/50) between men and women. Of that number, 9,408 or 27% are kids (representing a higher percentage of kids than in Hermosa Beach or Redondo Beach).

Manhattan Beach is primarily White (74%), followed by Asian (15%) and less than 1% Black. A total of 8% consider themselves Hispanic or Latino. Among Manhattan Beach households, 85.5% speak only English at home (compared to 44.5% across L.A. County). 

Education-wise, 78.2% have earned a bachelor's degree or higher.

Our city's median household income is $187,217 and mean household income is $280,470. (For those who fell asleep in math class, the median is the middle-most number and the mean is the average.)

Within our population, only 3% are at the poverty level, but it's worth noting that no one in the 65 and older age group falls into that category. Sadly, 6.4% of Manhattan Beach households report experiencing food insecurity.

recreational spaces.

In Manhattan Beach, that amounts to 6.8 acres of recreational space per 1,000 population (compared to 92.9 acres/1,000 population for L.A. County as a whole). However, 95.6% of Manhattan Beach residents are within a 10-minute walk of a recreational space, compared to only 64.2% in L.A. County. Plus, it appears that the study does not count the ocean as a "recreational space" despite the fact that many of us consider that our primary place of recreation.

Overall, 94.6% of Manhattan Beach adults say that their neighborhood is safe from crime, compared to 74.6% across L.A. County. Meanwhile, Manhattan Beach reports 154.2 serious violent crimes per 100,000 population, a rate that is far lower than Hermosa Beach (239.3), Redondo Beach (290.0), and L.A. County overall (525.9). 

Regular readers of Manhattan Beach News will remember that Manhattan Beach is off the charts for well-being. In the Gallup Poll's national Well-Being Index survey, Manhattan Beach's score of 70.6 was the highest community measurement ever recorded by Gallup out of more than 1,500 community scores since WBI measurement began in 2008.

Many students, however, continue to struggle. Among Beach Cities students, 19% to 25% of 7th-, 9th-, and 11th-graders reported feeling chronic sadness or hopelessness. However, that number is vastly improved from 2021, when the numbers were 29% to 46%. 

Manhattan Beach adults also appear to be more concerned than those in neighboring towns about disrespect and a lack of civility in the community, with 61% registering concern. Adults in the other Beach Cities don't seem to have the same level of concern, with Hermosa Beach only at 50.3% and Redondo Beach at 53.5%. 

Manhattan Beach also likes its alcohol: Its adults drink an average of 4.4 drinks per week. That's similar to the other Beach Cities but a bit higher than the national average of 2.5 drinks per week. 

But this city is not much for tobacco smoking. Only 0.8% of adults in Manhattan Beach report being smokers, compared with 1.3% for Hermosa Beach, 5.2% for Redondo Beach, and 10.9% nationally.

And last, some good news: Youth use of e-cigarettes is way down since 2018. In the Beach Cities, only 5% of 11th graders reported using e-cigarettes, down from 28% of 11th graders in 2018. 

The full report is available here.

Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) is a healthcare district focused on preventive health and serves the communities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach. Established in 1955 as a public agency, it offers an extensive range of health and wellness programs, with services and facilities to promote health and prevent diseases across the lifespan. BCHD also operates Adventureplex, a health and fitness facility where kids play their way to good health; and the Center for Health & Fitness, a comprehensive fitness center that is the only Medical Fitness Association-certified facility in California.