Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Cerritos, CA

Cerritos was incorporated on April 24, 1956, under a very different name - Dairy Valley, reflecting the dairy farms that then covered the land.

On January 10, 1967, the city formally changed its name to Cerritos, after the Spanish land grant Rancho Los Cerritos; 'cerritos' is Spanish for 'little hills.'

In a special election on July 16, 1963, residents voted to allow large-scale residential development as dairy farming became unprofitable, setting up the city's transformation into a planned suburb.

Cerritos counted 49,578 residents in the 2020 census, up slightly from 49,041 in 2010.

Cerritos has about 16,065 households averaging 2.96 people each, and about 76% of its homes are owner-occupied.

Cerritos is one of the Gateway Cities of southeastern Los Angeles County.

The median value of an owner-occupied home in Cerritos is about $935,300, according to Census QuickFacts.

The city-owned Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts opened on January 9, 1993 with sold-out performances by Frank Sinatra, and its 154,000-square-foot complex hosts opera, jazz, dance, drama and musicals.

Across from the Los Cerritos Center mall sits the Cerritos Auto Square, a large concentration of auto dealerships.

Cerritos High School, home of the Dons, serves about 1,995 students in the ABC Unified School District and is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 100 high schools in California.