2026 Economic Forecast

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Create Date February 25, 2026
Last Updated March 2, 2026

As Los Angeles County’s principal economic development leadership organization, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) Institute for Applied Economics produces an annual forecast to assess and predict key national, state, regional and local economic indicators. The forecast also deepens beneath those “headline” indicators to understand the key issues, pressing economic concerns, and longer-term trends that drive them. The forecast provides insights to inform policymakers’ decisions and business and community leaders across the Los Angeles region and California.

The year 2025 tested Los Angeles County in ways few could have anticipated. Three major disruptions defined the regional economy: the devastating January wildfires that tore through entire neighborhoods, leaving thousands displaced and billions in economic damage in their wake; intensified federal immigration enforcement that destabilized communities and the businesses across the County that they support; and sweeping federal tariff policies that upended international trade and supply chains on which the County depends.

What is perhaps most remarkable is that, through all of this, the Los Angeles County economy continued to grow, a testament to both the scale and diversity of the regional economy and to the resilience of the residents, workers, and business owners who sustain it. Yet substantial work remains to recover from these challenges and redouble our efforts to address our region’s ongoing, structural issues.

The 2026 LAEDC Annual Economic Forecast, From Disruption to Direction, is offered as both an honest reckoning with these challenges and a call to action. Los Angeles County has demonstrated that it can innovate when it chooses to. The task now is to ensure that the energy spent recovering from disruption is matched by an equal commitment to building a more resilient, affordable, and opportunity-rich region for the years ahead.