Jews in Los Angeles comprise approximately 17.5 percent of the city's population, and 8% of the county's population, making the Jewish community the largest in the world outside of New York City and Israel. , around 565,000 Jews live in the County of Los Angeles, and 1.232 million Jews live in California overall.(June 2022). 2021 Study of Jewish LA Brandeis University. Retrieved on 1 January 2026. Jews have immigrated to Los Angeles since it was part of the Mexican state of Alta California, but most notably beginning at the end of the 19th century to the present day. The large Jewish population has led to a significant impact on the culture of Los Angeles. The Jewish population of Los Angeles has seen a sharp increase in the past several decades, owing to internal migration of Jews from the East Coast, as well as immigration from Israel, Iran, France, the former Soviet Union, the UK, South Africa, and Latin America, and also due to the high birth rate among the smaller Hasidic and Orthodox communities. In 2021, the largest Jewish denominations in Los Angeles were Reform and Conservative, followed by a smaller Orthodox community.
Population As of 2021, the Jewish population of Los Angeles is 565,000, based on the "2021 Study of Jewish LA". This marks an increase of 9% in the Jewish population since the previous study was conducted by the Steinhardt Social Research Institute in 1997. The 2021 study estimates that Los Angeles County has the second largest Jewish population in the U.S., second only to New York City. It has the fifth largest Jewish population of any city in the world.
According to the 2021 study, about half of Jewish households in LA include an immigrant to the United States or someone whose parent is an immigrant. The regions of origin include Iran, Israel, Russia/the Former Soviet Union, Latin America, and Europe. Israeli Americans and Latino Jews are generally younger than the general Jewish population in LA. They found that the Jewish engagement of Persian and Israeli-American Jews to be generally stronger than the average local Jewish engagement.
Ethnic roots
Persian Jews
As of 2008, the Los Angeles area had the largest Persian Jewish population in the U.S., at 50,000.
The Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF) of Los Angeles is a prominent non-profit organization that has been serving the Iranian Jewish community of Greater Los Angeles for the last forty-one years. IAJF is a leading organization in its efforts to fight local and global Antisemitism, protect Iranian Jews domestically and abroad, promote a unified community, participate in social and public affairs, provide financial and psychosocial assistance to those in need through philanthropic activities, and more.
The Beverly Hills Unified School District, the established Jewish community, and security attracted Persian Jews to Beverly Hills, and a commercial area of the city became known as "Tehrangeles" due to Persian ownership of businesses in the Golden Triangle. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, about 30,000 Iranian Jews settled in Beverly Hills and the surrounding area. The Iranian Jews who lost funds in Iran were able to quickly adapt due to their high level of education, overseas funds, and experience in the business sector. In 1988, 1,300 Iranian Jews settled in Los Angeles.
In 1990 John L. Mitchell of the Los Angeles Times wrote that these Iranian Jews "function as part of a larger Iranian community" but that they also "in many respects[...]form a community of their own" as they "still manage to live their lives nearly surrounded by the culture of their homeland--going to Iranian nightclubs, worshiping at Iranian synagogues, shopping for clothing and jewelry at Iranian businesses." There had been initial tensions with Ashkenazi Jews in the synagogues due to cultural misunderstandings and differences in worship patterns, partly because some Iranian Jews did not understand that they needed to assist in fundraising efforts and pay dues. The tensions subsided by 2009.
Israelis
Los Angeles is home to the largest population in the Israeli diaspora, with more than 250,000 Israeli Americans living in Los Angeles, according to the Israeli American Council. The Israeli community of Los Angeles is clustered in the San Fernando Valley and Westside of Los Angeles. The communities of Encino and Tarzana in particular are noted for their large Israeli populations. Many Israeli Americans in Los Angeles are first, second, or third-generation Americans and are the descendants of early Israeli immigrants arriving in the 1950s, while others are more recent immigrants who began moving to Los Angeles in a wave of migration that began in the 1970s and continues to this day. The Israeli American community of Los Angeles has risen to prominence in local business, government and culture. Los Angeles is home to the world's first Israeli Community Center (ICC), similar to a JCC, located in the San Fernando Valley.
Russian Jews Los Angeles is home to approximately 25,000 Russian-speaking Jews, and has the second-largest population of Russian Jews from the former Soviet Union in the United States, after New York. Russian-speaking Jews in LA comprise 10 to 15 percent of the local Jewish population. They mainly live in West Hollywood.
Latino Jews As of 2006, approximately 11,000 Latino Jews were living in Los Angeles, especially in the West Hills area.
Moroccan Jews The Moroccan Jewish community in Los Angeles is one of the largest in North America, approximately 10,000 Moroccan Jews reside in the Los Angeles area, mostly in Pico-Robertson, North Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. Many are the descendants of community members who first emigrated to the United States in the aftermath of World War II. Many others came later in the 20th century from Israel, and beginning in the early 21st century from France due to increasing antisemitism there. Most are adherents to Orthodox Judaism, with some belonging to the Haredi, Reform, and Conservative Judaism as well. The community has its own synagogues as well as a community center.
Rhodeslis The Los Angeles area has been estimated to be home to 900 Rhodeslis as of 2005. The first members of the Rhodes Jewish community settled in the neighborhood of Ladera Heights beginning in the early 20th century. The Rhodeslis came to Los Angeles fleeing antisemitism and for opportunity. Ladera Heights was the heart of the Rhodesli community for decades. Rhodeslis spoke Ladino at home and established their own synagogue, the Sephardic Hebrew Center; which later merged with Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in 1993. Beginning in the 1960s and 70s, the Rhodeslis began to leave Ladera Heights due to redlining and moved to other neighborhoods in the city. Today the Rhodeslis are scattered across LA County and some of them fear assimilation into the broader Los Angeles Jewish community and the loss of their unique culture and traditions. Ladino is still spoken by some members of the community, especially those who are older or are particularly interested in their ethnic history.
Beginning in the middle of the 20th century, the Rhodesli community of Los Angeles started a unique custom that continues to this day, annual trips to Catalina. Every summer several Rhodeslis (40 as of 2005), board the ferry to Catalina Island to embark on a group trip where they can connect with their shared culture and history. An influential member of the community, Aron Hasson once stated to the Jewish Journal, "It was natural to them to take a boat across the water to an island nearby." They visit Catalina Island because its location resembles that of Rhodes in relationship to Turkey.
The Mediterranean island of Rhodes was once the center of an important Sephardic Jewish community with its own unique culture and customs. Jews of Rhodes, who called themselves Rhodeslis, lived peacefully under the Ottoman rule, preserving the medieval form of the Ladino language they took with them following the Inquisition and their expulsion from Spain in 1492. Rhodes was invaded by the Nazis in 1944, and Rhodes Jews were among the many sent off in cattle cars to their deaths in concentration camps. Many of the Rhodeslis who survived the Holocaust and fled World War II and its aftermath immigrated to Los Angeles, because there was an existing Rhodesli community in South Los Angeles, and the area's Mediterranean climate and coastline reminded them of their former home.
Yemenite Jews Beginning with the wave of Israeli immigration to Los Angeles which began in the mid-20th century and continues to the present day, several Yemenite Jews from Israel came to Los Angeles and mainly established themselves in the areas of Pico-Robertson, Santa Monica, and Encino; where several restaurants offering Yemenite Jewish cuisine exist. There are several synagogues in the Yemenite tradition, most notably Tifereth Teman on Pico. Many Yemenites also attend synagogues catering to the general Mizrahi Jewish community of the city.
In 1964, several dozen members of the Yemenite community began to meet and pray in the Yemenite dialect of Hebrew in their homes, community rooms, and even a bank basement. For the High Holidays they would rent a room in local synagogues. For the next 18 years, the Yemenites did not have their own synagogue. In the fall of 1986, they purchased a three-bedroom home in a residential area on Hayworth Avenue that they then converted to use as the first Yemenite synagogue in Los Angeles, Tifereth Teman. The move was met with opposition by some of the neighbors, some of whom were Jewish, many of whom were not Jewish and were White; which led to accusations of antisemitism by some members of the synagogue. The synagogue also attracted supporters, mostly within the local Orthodox Jewish community. Some older Orthodox residents of the neighborhood began to attend services at Tifereth Teman out of convenience as it was the closest synagogue to their homes. Opponents of the synagogue filed complaints with the city zoning board as the building was zoned residential. The synagogue was said to have the support of local councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who later declared himself to be neutral in the face of community opposition. In 1987, Tifereth Teman lost their zoning battle and was ordered to close. This decision was later appealed by the clergy. Tifereth Teman later moved to another building with the proper zoning, where it remains today.
South African Jews As of 1986, more than 500 South-African Jews reside in Irvine, in Orange County outside of Los Angeles. Most South African Jews in Los Angeles are Orthodox and go to religious services at an Orthodox synagogue or a Chabad center.
History The history of Jews in Los Angeles includes significant contributions in the arts and culture, science, education, architecture and politics, and began in 1841, with the arrival of Jacob Frankfort, a German-born tailor, on the Workman-Rowland wagon train.
19th century In 1841 Jacob Frankfort arrived in the Mexican Pueblo de Los Ángeles in Alta California. He was the city's first known Jew. Little is known about the personal details of Frankfort's life, other than that he was a skilled tradesman in high demand. When California was admitted to the Union in 1850, The U.S. Census recorded eight Jews living in Los Angeles.
Morris L. Goodman was the first Jewish Councilman in 1850 when the Pueblo de Los Ángeles Ayuntamento became the Los Angeles Common Council with U.S. statehood. Solomon Lazard, a Los Angeles merchant, served on the council in 1853, and also headed the first Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Arnold Jacobi was a council member in 1853–54.
Joseph Newmark, a lay rabbi, began conducting the first informal Sabbath services in Los Angeles in 1854.