When you're doing your research on potential places to live, the real estate prices and home styles aren't the only facets you should be looking into. You'll also want a general overview of the business and industry prospects for the city and the surrounding area to act as counterweights against your valuation of its homes. After all, you'll need a job to pay your mortgage. To help you, the potential real estate buyer, get a balanced picture of Torrance, California, we've posted this article on its business and industry sectors.

Oil

Unlike many California cities, which made their fortunes off of sunlight, palm trees, and beaches, Torrance has been, for much of its history, an oil producing town. At one point the skyline was dominated by the spindly figures of derricks and the revolving hammer shapes of pumps. Though many of the derricks and refineries have gone in recent years, PCB designers can still find work in petroleum production at the Exxon Mobil plant in the northern end of the city. Much of Southern California's oil is extracted and refined in and around Torrance.

Transportation

It's a good thing Torrance and the surrounding region are so heavily into oil production, because Torrance's factories (and the products they produce) use quite a bit. We are, of course, talking about the ultimate fuel burners: cars and aircraft. SR & ED (scientific research and experimental development) as well as manufacturing goes on in facilities belonging to Toyota, Honda, and Robinson (which produce cars, cars, and helicopters, respectively). Other companies such as Garrett Systems and Honeywell Aerospace produce essential components such as engines, turbochargers, and electronics.

Other Manufacturers

Though the top ten employers list is entirely populated by manufacturing companies like Toyota and Robinson, there are other businesses that manufacture things other than oil or cars. Lakai and Globe make shoes which are popular with skateboarders and young people. King's Hawaiian makes specialty Hawaiian bread. The American division of the Tecmo Company makes video games. Panasonic makes Blu-Rays in their local plant and TabletKiosk makes mobile computers ideal for traveling business people who need a small platform on which to run their web collaboration tool software.

Other Businesses

As you can see from above, the majority of businesses in Torrance are large scale manufacturing operations. However, don't discount other business sectors. There are financial firms trading in gold bullion prices where the oil magnates re-invest their money. There are retail shops where the factory workers buy their clothes and hairdressers where they get their hair cut. Their kids attend local day cares. Their neighbors work for book publishers, and own restaurants. There are also two health care complexes: the Torrance Memorial Medical Center and Little Company of Mary Hospital, which are not government run.