Located in southern Los Angeles County, Lakewood is 23 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, with Long Beach as its western neighbor. As of 2000, Lakewood is home to 80,952 people.

Lakewood is served by four unified school districts: Long Beach, which has won prestigious national awards for excellence, Paramount, Bellflower and ABC, all of which host several K-8, elementary, middle and high schools. Many colleges are only a short drive away such as  Mount Saint Mary's, De Vry University, and California State University, Long Beach. There are several local community colleges throughout the area.

Want to try something new but not sure how? Take a class! Lakewood offers a variety of community activity courses for the young and old. Such classes include dance, swim, aerobics and several youth activities. The city's Recreation and Community Services Department also hosts daily park activities and any of the ten neighborhood parks are a great place to run about, listen to live entertainment at a summer concert, or to check out the stars and learn a bit about astronomy. A notable park the Mayfair Park, which covers 18 acres and is home to a community pool and the 14,000-square-foot John Tood Community Center. This highly-popular park hosts the city's annual Pan American Fiesta every May.

Lakewood is recognized as a pioneer among California cities in services provision. Although it is an incorporated city, it contracts for most municipal services, with most of these provided by Los Angeles County. Lakewood was the first city in the nation to contract for all of its municipal services when Lakewood incorporated as a municipality in 1954, becoming the nation's first "contract city." Many other Los Angeles suburbs have adopted the "Lakewood Plan." Lakewood is also the home of the first Denny's Restaurant when in 1959 Harold Butler renamed Danny’s Donuts to Denny's Restaurant. Lakewood was also named Sports Illustrated's "Sportstown USA" in 2005 for the State of California.