About Marina del Rey, CA
Located on the Los Angeles County coastline between Venice, Playa del Rey, and the Ballona Wetlands, Marina del Rey is an unincorporated community and Census-designated place centered around one of Southern California’s most distinctive recreational harbors. Unlike nearby Los Angeles neighborhoods, Marina del Rey is governed directly by Los Angeles County. The harbor was formally dedicated in 1965 and today combines waterfront residences, hotels, restaurants, parks, boating facilities, and commercial destinations within a compact coastal setting.
The broader Marina site encompasses approximately 804 acres—about 403 acres of water and 401 acres of land. Los Angeles County currently reports more than 4,600 boat slips across 23 marinas, creating a waterfront environment where sailing, kayaking, paddleboarding, harbor cruises, and other marine activities are central to everyday life.
Marina del Rey’s location provides convenient access to Venice, Playa Vista, Culver City, Santa Monica, LAX, and employment centers throughout the Westside. Residents also enjoy Burton W. Chace Park, Marina “Mother’s” Beach, waterfront pathways, dining, shopping, and easy access to the regional coastal bicycle network.
Marina del Rey Real Estate Market
The Marina del Rey real estate market is heavily oriented toward waterfront and higher-density housing, with condominiums, townhomes, apartments, penthouses, and luxury residences overlooking the harbor. Properties range from compact condominium units to larger waterfront homes and contemporary residences near the marina’s basins, Via Marina, Admiralty Way, and neighboring coastal communities.
For the three months ending July 2026, Redfin reported a median sale price of approximately $846,576, up 19.2% year over year. Homes sold after an average of approximately 115 days on the market, compared with 51 days during the comparable period a year earlier. Because Marina del Rey is small and contains a significant concentration of condominiums, individual monthly and quarterly market figures can vary substantially with the mix of properties sold.
Whether buyers are considering a harbor-view condominium, a townhome, or a larger waterfront residence, Marina del Rey attracts interest for its boating lifestyle, proximity to the coast, access to major Westside employment centers, and convenient location near LAX, Venice, Playa Vista, and Culver City.
What to Love
- Iconic Marina Lifestyle: More than 4,600 boat slips across 23 marinas support sailing, cruising, kayaking, paddleboarding, fishing, and other waterfront recreation.
- Exceptional Waterfront Parks: Burton W. Chace Park provides 10 acres of harborfront green space with picnic areas, guest docks, walking areas, and panoramic marina views.
- Family-Friendly Beach Recreation: Marina “Mother's” Beach offers nearly a half-mile of sandy shoreline with calm water, volleyball, playground facilities, picnic areas, kayaking, and swimming.
- Dining & Shopping: Waterfront restaurants, Fisherman's Village, and Waterside at Marina del Rey provide convenient neighborhood dining, retail, and everyday services.
- Prime Westside Location: Marina del Rey sits close to Venice, Playa Vista, Santa Monica, Culver City, Playa del Rey, LAX, and the broader Los Angeles coastline.
Local Lifestyle
Marina del Rey offers a distinctive waterfront lifestyle where boating and outdoor recreation blend with restaurants, shopping, apartment and condominium living, and easy access to the rest of the Westside. Rather than a traditional downtown, daily activity is distributed around the marina’s basins, parks, waterfront promenades, and commercial destinations.
Mornings frequently begin with a jog around the harbor, a paddleboard or kayak session, a bicycle ride along the coast, or coffee overlooking the boats. Burton W. Chace Park opens directly onto the main channel and provides a popular setting for walking, picnics, community events, and sunset viewing.
Afternoons are ideal for boating, visiting Mother’s Beach, browsing waterfront shops, or cycling toward Venice and the surrounding coastline. Mother’s Beach provides calm-water recreation and recently received completed improvements in July 2026 that added upgraded facilities, landscaping, picnic shelters, improved access, and additional recreational infrastructure.
Evenings bring residents to waterfront restaurants, Fisherman’s Village, harbor cruises, and marina-view gathering places. Whether living beside the docks or within one of the larger residential communities along Admiralty Way and Via Marina, the Marina del Rey lifestyle revolves around the water.
Waterfront community with marina views and colorful Pacific sunsets.
Dining, Entertainment & Shopping
Marina del Rey offers an extensive waterfront dining environment, with restaurants ranging from casual cafés and quick-service destinations to full-service establishments overlooking the harbor.
Fisherman’s Village is one of the area’s most recognizable waterfront destinations, combining restaurants, shopping, boat rentals, charter and cruise departures, and harborfront walking areas along Fiji Way. Los Angeles County lists restaurants, shopping, boat rentals, and party boats among the village’s principal uses.
Waterside at Marina del Rey, located at 4700 Admiralty Way, provides a contemporary open-air shopping and dining destination with grocery shopping, restaurants, cafés, fashion, fitness, beauty, books, and specialty retail.
Entertainment throughout the Marina is strongly linked to the harbor itself, including sailing, harbor cruises, watercraft rentals, fishing, waterfront events, seasonal concerts, and boating activities. The surrounding communities of Venice, Playa Vista, Santa Monica, and Culver City further expand the range of restaurants, theaters, shopping, and nightlife available nearby.
Things to Do
Boating, parks, waterfront dining, beach recreation, and cycling make Marina del Rey one of Los Angeles County’s most distinctive coastal communities.
From waterfront parks and calm-water recreation to boating, dining, cycling, and Pacific sunsets, Marina del Rey offers an active coastal lifestyle centered around its harbor.
Schools
Marina del Rey-area public schools are part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. School attendance boundaries can vary by individual property, and several nearby campuses are physically located in neighboring Los Angeles communities, so buyers should verify the assigned schools for a specific address directly through LAUSD.
- Westside Global Awareness Magnet: Located at 104 Anchorage Street in Marina del Rey, this LAUSD K–8 magnet emphasizes global awareness, environmental perspectives, cultural understanding, collaboration, and critical thinking.
- Marina Del Rey Middle School & Performing Arts Magnet: Located nearby at 12500 Braddock Drive, this LAUSD middle school offers its residential program alongside performing-arts magnet opportunities and extracurricular activities.
- Short Avenue Elementary: A nearby public TK–5 school in the Del Rey neighborhood and an International Baccalaureate World School with an inquiry-driven educational model.
- Venice High School: Located nearby on Venice Boulevard, the LAUSD high school offers its comprehensive academic program as well as specialized educational pathways.
Overview for Marina del Rey, California
Marina del Rey is officially a Census-designated place (CDP), which means the Census Bureau publishes demographic data specifically for the community even though it is not an incorporated city. Unlike incorporated cities, however, the Census Bureau does not publish a July 2025 annual population estimate for Marina del Rey, so the most current comparable population figure comes from the 2020–2024 American Community Survey.