Costa Mesa, California, United States

🇺🇸 Costa Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community to a suburban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wayne Airport edge city, one of the region's largest commercial clusters, with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light manufacturing.

Economy The city's economy relies heavily on retail and services. The largest centre of commercial activity is South Coast Plaza, a shopping centre noted for its architecture and size. The volume of sales generated by South Coast Plaza, on the strength of its more than 270 stores, places it among the highest volume regional shopping centres in the nation. It generates more than $1 billion per year in revenue. South Coast Metro is a commercial, cultural, and residential district surrounding South Coast Plaza in northern Costa Mesa and southern Santa Ana, itself part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wayne Airport edge city.

Some manufacturing activity also takes place in the city, mostly in the industrial, south-western quarter, which is home to a number of electronics, pharmaceuticals and plastics firms. Business services company Experian is the largest employer in the city, and has its North American headquarters in Costa Mesa.

Ceradyne, El Pollo Loco, Emulex, Hurley, RVCA, Toyota Racing Development, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Vans, and Volcom are among the businesses headquartered in Costa Mesa. A local newspaper, the Daily Pilot, is published by the Los Angeles Times.

Costa Mesa offers 26 parks, a municipal golf course, 26 public schools and two libraries.

Economy: Top employers Among the top employers in the city include: El Pollo Loco; Experian; Coast Community College District Foundation; Orange Coast College; Automobile Club of Southern California; Dynamic Cooking Systems; IBM FileNet; Sure Haven; TTM Technologies; Shurflo.