Southern California

==Urban landscape==
{{More citations needed|date=July 2011}}
[[File:Distribution of high income households across LA County.png|thumb|Percentage of households with incomes above $150,000 across LA County census tracts]]

Southern California consists of a heavily developed urban environment, home to some of the largest [[List of urbanized areas in California (by population)|urban areas]] in the state, along with the [[Deserts of California]] (part of which was even [[High Desert County, California|proposed to become a new county]] due to cultural, economic and geographic differences relative to the rest of the more urban region)<ref name=proposal1998>{{cite news |work=Daily News |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/PLAN+MAPPED+OUT+FOR+NEW+COUNTY%3B+HIGH+DESERT+AREA+WOULD+CONTAIN+1...-a083811643 |title=Plan Mapped Out for New County; High Desert Area Would Contain 1 Million People |author=Charles F. Bostwick}}</ref><ref name=goforit>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/82681779/ |date=February 20, 1998 |publisher=[[The San Bernardino County Sun]] |page=4 |title=If a new county is feasible, go for it, desert dwellers say }}</ref><ref name = Wilson>{{cite news |url=http://www.santaclarita.com/blog/view_month.php?id=1&month=2013-04 |date=April 26, 2013 |title=Save us Carl Boyer! SCV getting screwed by LA County again |author=Jeff Wilson}}</ref> that have been left undeveloped. It is the third most populated megalopolis in the United States, after the [[Great Lakes Megalopolis]] and the [[Northeast Megalopolis]]. Much of Southern California is famous for its large, spread-out, suburban communities and use of automobiles and highways. The dominant areas are Los Angeles, [[Orange County, California|Orange County]], [[San Diego]], and [[Riverside, California|Riverside]]–[[San Bernardino]], each of which are the centers of their respective metropolitan areas, composed of numerous smaller cities and communities. The urban area is also host to an international [[San Diego–Tijuana]] metropolitan region, created by the urban area spilling over into [[Baja California]].

Travelling south on [[Interstate 5 in California|Interstate 5]], the main barrier to continued urbanization is [[Camp Pendleton]]. The cities and communities along [[Interstate 15 in California|Interstate 15]] and [[Interstate 215 (California)|Interstate 215]] are so interrelated that [[Temecula]] and [[Murrieta]] have as much connection with the [[San Diego metropolitan area]] as they do with the [[Inland Empire]]. To the east, the [[United States Census Bureau]] considers the San Bernardino and Riverside County areas, [[Riverside-San Bernardino area]] as a separate [[metropolitan area]] from Los Angeles County. Newly developed [[exurbs]] formed in the [[Antelope Valley]], north of Los Angeles, the [[Victor Valley]], and the [[Coachella Valley]] with the [[Imperial Valley]]. Also, population growth was high in the [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield-Kern County]], [[Santa Maria, California|Santa Maria]] and [[San Luis Obispo]] areas.

{{wide image|Los Angeles downtown sunset cityscape.jpg|1000px|The skyline of [[Downtown Los Angeles]] as seen at sunset in October 2006. Standing {{cvt|1018|ft|m|0}} high, with 73 floors, the [[U.S. Bank Tower (Los Angeles)|U.S. Bank Tower]] was the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]]'s tallest building when it was built in 1989, until the neighboring [[Wilshire Grand Center]] surpassed it in 2017.}}