Bel Air (or Bel-Air)[fn 1] is a residential neighborhood on the Los Angeles Westside, in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains in the U.S. state of California.

[5] Along with Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles community of Brentwood, Bel Air is also part of a high-priced area on the Westside known as the "three Bs.

He subdivided and developed the property with large residential lots, with work on the master plan led by the landscape architect Mark Daniels.

[10] On November 6, 1961, a fire ignited and devastated the community of Bel Air, destroying 484 homes in the area.

Bel Air is situated about 12 miles (19 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles,[12] set entirely within the Santa Monica Mountains.

It lies across Sunset Boulevard from the northern edge of the main campus of the University of California, Los Angeles.

[13] The 2000 U.S. census counted 7,691 residents in the 6.37-square-mile (16.5 km2) Bel Air neighborhood; with 1,207 per square mile (466/km2) it has among the lowest population densities for the city and the county.

[15] The median yearly household income in 2008 was $207,938, the highest figure for any neighborhood or city in Los Angeles County.

Iran (26.1%) and South Africa (8.2%) were the most common places of birth for the 24.1% of the residents who were born abroad—which was an average percentage for Los Angeles as a whole.

Antique stone carvings, water basins and lanterns, as well as the five-tiered pagoda, and key symbolic rocks are also from Japan.

It is located in the 90077 (Bel Air Estates & Beverly Glen) ZIP code, which is part of the city of Los Angeles.

[23] Almost two-thirds (66.1%) of Bel Air residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high percentage for the city and the county.

The committee did not target Fairburn Avenue School in Westwood, as a way of allowing it to preserve its ethnic balance, and so it can take children from Bellagio Road in case it closed.

[40] The television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, starring actor and rapper Will Smith, was set in the neighborhood, although the exterior shots used were filmed in nearby Brentwood.