Within just 8.3 square miles bordered by the Pacific Ocean and the west side of Los Angeles, Santa Monica is home to 90,000 residents who enjoy beautiful neighborhoods, a world renowned beach, fabulous restaurants, a thriving art community, vibrant shopping districts, excellent schools, award winning community facilities and parks, and plenty of sunshine. Santa Monica’s approximately 16,000 businesses include everything from high profile entertainment companies
and world class retail to small entrepreneurial start-ups. Santa Monica has earned the moniker “Silicon Beach” with Yahoo!, Hulu and Activision as a few of the high-tech companies that make Santa Monica their home. The Santa Monica community is known for its high level of engagement in civic affairs. Community priorities emphasize active and healthy lifestyles,
culture, sustainability, social services, youth services and balanced land use. The City recently received a Bloomberg
Philanthropies Mayor’s Challenge prize to help fund The Wellbeing Project to address wellbeing across all segments of the community through a combination of measurement and action. In short, Santa Monica is a vibrant beach town with the resources of a big city.