West Hollywood, CA Economic Overview
West Hollywood, sometimes referred to as WeHo and nicknamed 'The Creative City', is a tiny 1.89-square-mile city of nearly 37,000 residents and is located just north of Los Angeles and west of Hollywood. Part of the West Los Angeles market, the city is home to the Sunset Strip, and West Hollywood is considered to be one of the most well-known gay villages in the United States. The commercial real estate market in West Hollywood is driven by the dense, urban walkable environment and the multiple commercial corridors including the Sunset Strip, Santa Monica Boulevard, and Beverly Boulevard.
West Hollywood bills itself as a city of 1.9 walkable square miles of hard-pounding decadence and style - right in the middle of Los Angeles. A multitude of industries contribute to this image and to the economy of West Hollywood, including those in film and motion picture, retail, restaurant, technology, finance, and government. Notable venues and business in West Hollywood include the House of Blues, the Chateau Marmont Hotel, the Mondrian Hotel, the Comedy Store, Whisky A Go Go, Smashbox Studios, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and West Hollywood Gateway Project.
The median household income of West Hollywood is over $65,000, higher than Los Angeles County and the United States. With a median age of 39, with 54% of the residents having a bachelor's degree or higher, a labor force of over 26,000 and an unemployment rate of just over 3%, the economy of West Hollywood continues to attract business and residents alike.
West Hollywood, CA Commercial Real Estate Market
West Hollywood's highly educated workforce, easy access to all parts of the Los Angeles metro area and San Fernando Valley, and business-friendly local government attracts a variety of business in the arts, entertainment, and high-tech industries.
To ensure the continued growth of the commercial real estate market in West Hollywood, the city focuses on four areas of commercial development:
- Arts, as both an urban and commercial program, and in collaboration with the West Hollywood Library,
- Business Development Services, to aid businesses searching for space and as a conduit for other local and regional resources,
- Event and Film Services, providing special permit processing and logistics for high profile filming and events, and
- Innovative Division, to boost the use of innovative technologies.
The commercial corridors of West Hollywood include Sunset Strip, Santa Monica Boulevard, and the Avenues of Art & Design along Robertson, Melrose and Beverly Boulevards. The nearly 4,000 businesses located in West Hollywood are extremely diverse in their need for commercial real estate, running the gamut from agricultural services, general & heavy construction, apparel/textile/furniture manufacturing, printing and publishing, machinery & equipment manufacturing, transportation services, durables & non-durables wholesale, and of course retail, restaurant and lodging.
As a submarket of West Los Angeles, the West Hollywood office market has all indicators moving in the right direction, among all asset classes. The Melrose District in West Hollywood commands some of the highest retail rents in West Los Angeles. The industrial real estate market in West Hollywood is expected to remain very tight in the foreseeable future, due to the conversion of industrial space to creative office use for companies in the media, technology, entertainment and advertising industries.
West Hollywood, CA Commercial Inventory Breakdown
Office Spaces
Total: 3,675,560 SF
By square footage range:
- 50k to 100k SF: 538,864 SF / 14.66% of total office
- 100k to 500k SF: 2,386,696 SF / 64.93% of total office
- 500k to 1M SF: 750,000 SF / 20.41% of total office
By class:
- Class A: 3,121,546 SF / 84.93% of total office
Office Spaces with Retail
Total: 488,392 SF
By square footage range:
- 50k to 100k SF: 67,599 SF / 13.84% of total office with retail
- 100k to 500k SF: 420,793 SF / 86.16% of total office with retail
Employment in West Hollywood, CA
Job growth in West Hollywood has increased nearly 2%, and with a decrease of nearly 13%, the unemployment rate in West Hollywood sits at just 3.4%. Despite the small 1.9 square mile size of the city, there's a labor force of over 26,000 workers with the nearly 4,000 businesses employing over 45,000 people including those who commute in from other parts of Los Angeles County.
Major employers in West Hollywood include the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, House of Blues, City of West Hollywood, The London West Hollywood hotel, CityGrid Media, Mondrian Hotel, and the Andaz West Hollywood hotel. Not everybody who lives in West Hollywood works there, traveling instead to work in Silicon Beach or with companies in the entertainment industry. Major employers in the West Los Angeles area include Sony Pictures Studios, 20th Century Fox, Creative Artists Agency, Universal Music, and Lions Gate Entertainment.
Education in West Hollywood, CA
West Hollywood is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, and has both public and private primary, middle and secondary schools. Public elementary schools include West Hollywood Elementary School, Laurel Elementary School, and Gardner Street Elementary School. Private schools in West Hollywood include West Hollywood College Preparatory School, The Center for Early Education, and Pacific Hills School.
With 54% of the residents of West Hollywood having a bachelor's degree or higher, college and university education, and continuing education all play an important role. There are nearly 130 colleges and universities near West Hollywood, including Touro College Los Angeles, American Academy of Dramatic Arts - Los Angeles, Musicians Institute, Los Angeles City University, The Art Institute of California - Hollywood, and the University of California - Los Angeles.
Commuting Time in West Hollywood, CA
Los Angeles has some of the worst commute times in the entire country, with residents of West Hollywood facing an average commute time of nearly 25 minutes each work day, although locals will tell you that commutes are much worse depending and where you're going and when. While 2 car families are the rule in California and the U.S., the majority of people that do own a car in West Hollywood own only one.
The Los Angeles metropolitan area is served by an extensive, integrated transportation network of freeways, highways, streets, and local and regional mass transit systems:
- Avoiding mass transit altogether, 12% of the labor force works at home.
- West Hollywood has a walkability score of 89, making it the most walkable city in California, with over 5% of the workforce walking to work each day.
- California State Route 2 bisects West Hollywood and Interstate 10 is only 3 miles away.
- Freight rail can be accessed 3 miles from West Hollywood.
- Twenty-one airports are within a 50-mile radius of West Hollywood, the largest ones being Bob Hope Airport and the Los Angeles International Airport.
West Hollywood Demographics
Population
- Total Population36,384
- Male Population(57.2 %) 20,809
- Female Population(42.8 %) 15,575
- Median Age39.90
Income/Financial
- Average Household Income$99,979
- Median Household Income$69,249
- Median Income Under 25$30,375
- Median Income 25-44$88,229
- Median Income 45-64$80,201
- Median Income Over 65$23,538