Palos Verdes is often used to refer to a group of coastal cities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the Los Angeles/South Bay Area of California. This affluent bedroom community is known for its dramatic views, and good schools, extensive horse trails and high home prices. Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, and Rolling Hills Estates are the predominant cities in the area, with a part of San Pedro, protuding on the eastern end of the peninsula. The area is home to several golf courses and country clubs, and the South Coast Botanic Garden. On the coast is the location of the former Marineland of the Pacific, an aquatic theme park. There is a lighthouse on Point Vicente, and Point Vicente Park is a popular spot for watching the migration of gray whales to and from their breeding lagoon in Baja California.
The area is a very affluent one, with expensive homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Los Angeles Basin, and with Santa Catalina Island almost always visible just across the channel.
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District has one of the highest rated API scores in California, and has one of the highest average SAT scores and one of the highest percentage of students successfully completing the Advanced Placement exams in the county. There are two high schools, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (formerly called Rolling Hills High School) and Palos Verdes High School (the latter located just a half block from the Pacific Ocean). Marymount College, a co-ed Roman Catholic two-year college is located in Rancho Palos Verdes. A private K-12 school, Chadwick School, is also located there.
The Peninsula is served by the Palos Verdes Library District which operates the Peninsula Center, Miraleste, and Malaga Cove Libraries.
The Korean Bell of Friendship and the Fort MacArthur Military Museum are both located near Point Fermin in San Pedro.
The area is frequented by runners, hikers, horseback riders, bird watchers, surfers, scuba divers, and bicyclists.
The area is a very affluent one, with expensive homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Los Angeles Basin, and with Santa Catalina Island almost always visible just across the channel.
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,340 people, 4,993 households, and 4,119 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 78.32% White, 0.99% African American, 0.13% Native American, 17.14% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 0.60% from other races, and 2.70% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.83% of the population.
There were 4,993 households out of which 32.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.7% were married couples living together, 4.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.5% were non-families. 15.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 2.96.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.2% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 19.8% from 25 to 44, 33.0% from 45 to 64, and 19.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $123,534, and the median income for a family was $133,563. The per capita income for the city was $69,040. About 1.1% of families and 2.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.5% of those under age 18 and 1.2% of those age 65 or over.