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

All states·California·Hawthorne

Los Angeles County · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim · population 83,633

Shrinking
Hawthorne, CA
Image: Wikipedia · Hawthorne, California
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
55
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Hawthorne stands

Population shrinking 1.3% per year.

Median home $882,989
1-year +0.6%
5-yr CAGR +2.6%
vs 5-yr peak -2.2%
Population -1.3%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2024-12$883k$446k$610k$774k$939k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
78/100
Very walkable
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
30/100
Minimal transit
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
53/100
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
$2,054/mo$1,521$1,850$2,178202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent114127100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 35.8
Rent

At a 35.8 price-to-rent ratio, renting beats buying in Hawthorne 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
53 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
51 · w22%
Distance from peak
77 · w18%
Population growth
26 · w16%
Rent YoY
63 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
69 · w10%
Long thesis

Hawthorne has held up across the cycle: home values at $882,989 with +2.6% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Hawthorne's population is shrinking 1.3% 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 Hawthorne

Hawthorne is a city in Los Angeles County, California, with an estimated population of 83,633. It anchors the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area. The population has contracted 1.3% per year on average since 2020. The median home value in Hawthorne is $882,989 as of 2026-04, up 0.6% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +2.6% annual growth (-2.2% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Hawthorne average $2,054 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (+2.6%). The composite momentum score is 55 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Held the highs: currently -2.2% from the 5-year peak — this market refused to give back gains.
○The data is the data: Hawthorne 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

●Net out-migration: population shrinking 1.3% per year — services, schools, and tax base will follow.
●Expensive AND not growing: median home $882,989 with only +0.6% YoY. You’re paying premium pricing for a flat trend.

About Hawthorne (Wikipedia)

Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is part of a seventeen-city subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area commonly known as the South Bay. As of the 2020 US census, Hawthorne had a population of 88,083.

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

City facts

MayorAlex Vargas
Area6.10 sq mi
Elevation72 ft
Motto"City of Good Neighbors"
Densityauto/sq mi
Named forNathaniel Hawthorne

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.

NWS active alerts (CA)California Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

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.

Neighborhoods of Hawthorne

9 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Hollyglen$1,325,176-1.9%
2Ramona$914,065+1.2%
3Parkside Village$899,206-1.9%
4North West Hawthorne$883,537+4.1%
5Bodger Park$838,350-1.8%
6Burleigh Tract$814,588+2.8%
7Holly Park$801,270+2.4%
8North Hawthorne$749,460-0.4%
9Moneta Gardens$702,117-0.9%

Cities like Hawthorne

Inglewood, CA57 · StableSan Bruno, CA55 · StableWatsonville, CA56 · StableSan Mateo, CA54 · Stable

Run the numbers for Hawthorne

ToolCan I afford Hawthorne?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Hawthorne rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Hawthorne to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolHawthorne cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

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 Hawthorne 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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