Hanukkah candles as part of the eight-day Jewish commemoration. Los Angeles Almanac Photo.
Since the late 1980’s, the Los Angeles metropolitan area has been home to one of the world’s largest Jewish populations. The Los Angeles metro area has the world's second largest Jewish population outside of Israel (following the New York metro area) . Source: Jewish Virtual Library.
Los Angeles County is estimated to have the largest Jewish population of any U.S. county. In 2020, the county's Jewish population was estimated to constitute 45.2% of the Jewish population in California and 6.9% of all Jewish people in the nation. Source: Brandeis University.
| Population | 2020 | 2000 | 1990 | 1952 | 1916 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated Jewish | 530,400 (1) | 564,700 (2) | 501,700 (2) | 343,000 (2) | 1,000 (2) |
1) Source: Steinhardt Social Research Institute, Brandeis University
2) Source: Assn. of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies
In 1850, California's first year as a U.S. state, the U.S. Census counted eight Jewish residents of Los Angeles County. These were Jacob Frankfort, age 40; Felix Bachman and Philip Sochel, both age 28; Abraham Jacoby, age 25; Augustin Wasserman, Joseph Plumer, and Morris Goodman (first Jewish member of the L.A.'s first American city council), all age 24; and Morris Michaels, age 19. All were males and listed as unmarried. Six were born in Germany. Two were originally from Poland.
Wilshire Boulevard Temple, home of the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles. Photo by Downtowngal via Wikimedia Commons.
| Religious Tradition | Chabad | Conservative | Independent | Orthodox | Reconstructionist | Reform | Messianic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congregations | 107 | 20 | 6 | 37 | 2 | 22 | 2 |
| Adherents | --- | 16,081 | 850 | 44,400 | 2,867 | 25,502 | --- |
| Religious Tradition | Chabad | Conservative | Independent | Orthodox | Reconstructionist | Reform | Messianic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congregations | --- | 23 | --- | 150 | 3 | 26 | 2 |
| Adherents | --- | 26,676 | --- | 44,400 | 3,761 | 33,631 | --- |
Source: Assn. of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies
Also visit the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
Jews have played no small part in Los Angeles history. Solomon Lazard, a Los Angeles merchant, not only served on the Los Angeles City Council in 1853, but also headed the first Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Emil Harris, a Polish Jew, served as Los Angeles Police Chief in 1877 and 1878. Famed Los Angeles chronicler and community leader Harris Newark (and founder of Montebello), was Jewish. His uncle, Joseph Newmark, who as an ordained rabbi, began conducting the first informal Sabbath services in Los Angeles in 1854, also founded the Hebrew Benevolent Society that same year -- the first charity organization in Los Angeles. The first formal Jewish services were conducted by Rabbi Abraham Wolf Edelman for the newly formed B’nai B’rith congregation in 1862.
