It lies in the eastern portion of the county, in Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

"[1] It was named the best suburb in the West by Sunset Magazine in 2016, which described it as a "small city that blends worldly sophistication with small-town appeal.

[12] The city is primarily residential, with a significant portion of its commercial activity located in "The Village," a popular collection of street-front small stores, boutiques, art galleries, offices, and restaurants adjacent to and west of the Claremont Colleges.

The Village was expanded in 2007, adding a controversial[13][14] multi-use development that includes an indie cinema, a boutique hotel, retail space, offices, and a parking structure on the site of an old citrus packing plant west of Indian Hill Boulevard.

[15] Claremont has been a winner of the National Arbor Day Association's Tree City USA award for 22 consecutive years.

Prior to the establishment of the city of Claremont, the area was frequented by the Serrano, Cahuilla, and Tongva for thousands of years.

[16] One well-documented Tongva village, known as Torojoatngna,[17] was located at a place called "Indian Hill" by early American settlers.

[16] The village was active until the nineteenth century, housing nearly 200 residents in 1870, yet was eventually abandoned after being ravaged by a smallpox epidemic by 1883.

[16] The city of Claremont was first mapped out by developers in a land boom precipitated by the arrival of transcontinental railroads to Southern California.

[22] The citrus groves and open space which once dominated the northern portion of the city have been replaced by residential developments of large homes.

In the autumn, Claremont can experience the gusty "Santa Ana Winds", which can bring fire danger to nearby foothill areas.

As winter comes along, most of the city's annual rainfall occurs, which is typical around the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

In the late spring, Claremont can receive many overcast days due to the strong onshore flow from the ocean.

Claremont first appeared as a city in the 1910 U.S. Census[30] as part of the now defunct San Jose Township (pop 7,696 in 1900).

[citation needed] 55.7% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families.

[citation needed] Each July, Ophelia's Jump Productions presents their annual Midsummer Shakespeare Festival at The Sontag Outdoor Theatre in Pomona College.

[citation needed] Productions are performed in repertory with local community and civic events and festivities.

[citation needed] In past years, attendees could collect pie recipes as they walked around downtown Claremont and checked out different stores.

[citation needed] The church had constructed similarly non-traditional nativity scenes in prior years.

[54] In the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Claremont is in the Fifth District, represented by Kathryn Barger.

[citation needed] Private educational institutions host approximately 6,500 students every year from across the country and around the world.

[citation needed] Just north of Foothill Boulevard is the college-owned Robert J. Bernard Field Station, which preserves natural coastal sage scrub on its property.

[citation needed] In May 2023, the school moved from its Claremont campus to the Westwood Methodist Church in Los Angeles.