Artesia (Spanish for "artesian aquifer") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California.

Artesia is surrounded on the west, south, and east sides by Cerritos, with Norwalk to the north.

It was also the childhood home of former First Lady Pat Nixon, who lived there from 1914 to 1931, though the property on which she grew up is now part of neighboring Cerritos.

It was named for the many flowing artesian wells in the area, which made the village ideal for farming and agriculture.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Dutch and Portuguese farmers developed Artesia into one of the most important dairy districts in Southern California.

After World War II, as with many other cities in the region, Artesia was pressured by developers to build residential tracts.

As the demand for housing continued, dairymen moved their operations further east into Chino and north into the Central Valley.

Despite this concentration of Indian-owned businesses, Asian Indians made up only 7.9% of the population of Artesia in the 2010 Census.

[8] Proposals have often been made to designate a portion of the city as "Little India" [9] (along the lines of Little Saigon in nearby Westminster and Garden Grove).

Another proposal has been for a "Little India" sign at the Pioneer Boulevard exit off of the Artesia Freeway.

According to the Los Angeles Times article "Artesia Thinks the World of Itself,"[10] four of five City Council members were outraged at Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez's attempt to make the designation without consulting the local council.

The council members won a bill requiring local approval of proposed freeway sign designations.

[11] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2), all land.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Artesia had a median household income of $59,845, with 13.5% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

[36] The City Council is composed of five members elected at large by the citizens of Artesia to serve for four-year overlapping terms.

Each member of the City Council appoints one person to each commission for a term of four years.

[47] The United States Postal Service Artesia Post Office is located at 11721 183rd Street.