Gardena, CA — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

Los Angeles County · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim · population 58,921

Shrinking
Gardena, CA
Image: Wikipedia · Gardena, California
View watchlist →
60
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Gardena stands

At or near all-time high. population shrinking 0.9% per year.

Median home $791,844
1-year +1.2%
5-yr CAGR +4.0%
vs 5-yr peak -1.6%
Population -0.9%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2024-12$792k$372k$527k$682k$837k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
78/100
Very walkable
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
22/100
Transit limited
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
61/100
Workable for remote workers
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$2,383/mo$1,690$2,108$2,526202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent121133100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 27.7
Rent

At a 27.7 price-to-rent ratio, renting beats buying in Gardena for most shorter holds. The premium you pay to own would take many years of rent savings to recoup, and that's before maintenance, taxes, and opportunity cost on the down payment.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
56 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
59 · w22%
Distance from peak
80 · w18%
Population growth
32 · w16%
Rent YoY
65 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
75 · w10%
Long thesis

Gardena has held up across the cycle: home values at $791,844 with +4.0% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Gardena's population is shrinking 0.9% per year. Housing demand has to come from somewhere — if people are leaving, the buyer pool is shrinking faster than the inventory. That eventually shows up in price.

About Gardena

Gardena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, with an estimated population of 58,921. It anchors the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area. The population has contracted 0.9% per year on average since 2020. The median home value in Gardena is $791,844 as of 2026-04, up 1.2% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +4.0% annual growth, with prices at or near the 5-year peak. Rents in Gardena average $2,383 per month, up 3.1% year-over-year. The composite momentum score is 60 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

Bull case

Held the highs: currently -1.6% from the 5-year peak — this market refused to give back gains.
The data is the data: Gardena has at least 5 years of Zillow tracking, full Census identification, and is included in the 2-criteria momentum score on this page.

Bear case

Expensive AND not growing: median home $791,844 with only +1.2% YoY. You’re paying premium pricing for a flat trend.
Flat or shrinking population: -0.9% per year. Housing demand has to come from somewhere — verify the source.

About Gardena (Wikipedia)

Gardena is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 61,027 at the 2020 census, up from 58,829 at the 2010 census. Until 2014, the U.S. census cited the City of Gardena as the place with the highest percentage of Japanese Americans in California. Gardena's Japanese American population contributes to the South Bay region of Los Angeles being home to the highest density of Japanese companies within the mainland United States.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorTasha CerdaCite web
Area5.86 sq mi
Elevation49 ft
Nickname"Freeway City"Cite web
Motto"The City of Opportunity!"
Densityauto/sq mi

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Los Angeles County right now.

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Los Angeles County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Cities like Gardena

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
60° / 41°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
82° / 60°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
258
~71% of year
Annual precip
22″ rain
8″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very low
Tornado
Very low
Wildfire
Very high
Earthquake
Very high
Flood
Moderate

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Gardena listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
65%
Moderate climate
Median household income
$91,500
California state median
Top industries (state-level)
TechEntertainmentAgriculture

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

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