It is part of a seventeen-city region commonly called the South Bay.

[6] Hawthorne was once part of the Rancho Sausal Redondo (Round Willow-grove Ranch) of the 22,458-acre (91 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given in 1837 to Antonio Ygnacio Ávila by Juan Alvarado the Mexican Governments Governor of Alta California.

Harding's daughter shared her birthday—July 4, American Independence Day—with New England author Nathaniel Hawthorne, and a decision was made to name the small village after him.

[12] Hawthorne was once a "whites only" settlement, commonly called a sundown town.

[14] To the north of Hawthorne is the unincorporated community of Lennox and the city of Inglewood.

To the south is the unincorporated community of El Camino Village, and the cities of Lawndale and Redondo Beach.

To the west is the city of El Segundo, and the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westchester is to the northwest of Hawthorne.

Hawthorne surrounds the unincorporated community of Del Aire on three sides.

It also shares a small border on the northeast along Imperial Highway with the unincorporated community of Westmont.

The San Diego Freeway (I-405) runs along the western boundary of Hawthorne.

Major east–west streets in Hawthorne include Rosecrans Avenue, El Segundo Boulevard, and Imperial Highway.

Hawthorne is five miles (8 km) from the Los Angeles International Airport.

Hawthorne, like the rest of the Los Angeles basin, has a Mediterranean climate: Hawthorne has a Mediterranean climate or dry-summer subtropical (Köppen climate classification Csb on the coast, Csa inland), enjoying plenty of sunshine throughout the year, with an average of 263 sunshine days and only 35 days with measurable precipitation annually.

During 2009–2013, Hawthorne had a median household income of $44,649, with 19.2% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

[40] The relatively large number of aerospace engineers and technicians, history of established aerospace companies, and the presence of SpaceX has facilitated the development of space engineering industry cluster in the city.

[58] The United States Postal Service Hawthorne Post Office is located at 12700 Inglewood Avenue.