The city was master-planned by the noted American landscape architect and planner Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.

The 90274 ZIP code (covering the cities of Palos Verdes Estates and Rolling Hills) is considered some of the most exclusive and expensive neighborhoods in the United States.

[12] The Commonwealth Trust Company filed the Palos Verdes Protective Restrictions in Los Angeles County in 1923.

[15] The designers of Palos Verdes Estates, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Charles Cheney, used deed restrictions as a method of controlling development of the subdivision, even after many of the lots would have already been sold.

The deed restrictions also included an exclusionary racial covenant which forbade an owner from selling or renting a house to anyone who wasn't white.

Yet, it took 20 more years until the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968 for the reality of the civil rights protections to take hold.

[17] An art jury reviewed all building plans, regulating any structure in regard to style, material, and even small details like color and the pitch of the roof.

[19][20] The city's oldest building is La Venta Inn built in 1923 as a sales office for Vanderlip and his business associates.

The Neptune fountain situated in the center of Malaga Cove Plaza is faithful replica of the original bronze Fontana del Nettuno designed by Italian artist Tommaso Laureti and erected in Bologna, Italy in 1563.

[21] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.8 square miles (12 km2), over 99% of it land.

The city is bordered by Torrance to the north and east, Rancho Palos Verdes to the south, and Rolling Hills Estates to the southeast.

There were 5,283 housing units at an average density of 1,106.6 per square mile (427.3/km2), of which 4,496 (88.7%) were owner-occupied, and 570 (11.3%) were occupied by renters.

[45] Palos Verdes Estates is the only city on the Palos Verdes Peninsula to have its own police department (the other three peninsula cities contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, using the station in nearby Lomita).

[47] Starting around 1990, the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department was criticized for not taking steps to stop harassment by the Lunada Bay Boys group of surfers.

[48][49] Palos Verdes Estates Police Chief Jeff Kepley has acknowledged that officers in his department "may have relationships with surfers accused of tormenting outsiders".

[51][52] In September 2024, the city settled the lawsuit and agreed to, among other things, have the police department begin investigating claims of harassment.

[55][56][57] The United States Postal Service Palos Verdes Estates Post Office is located in Suite 102 at 2516 Via Tejon.

In any given year there is routinely a dozen-way or more tie for the valedictorian (highest grade point average) honors in the graduating class.