page_title: Burbank, California
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Burbank, California / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: Burbank, California as seen from Griffith Park.
context_page_description: Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, 12 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley. The population at the 2010 census was 103,340.
  Billed as the "Media Capital of the World" and only a few miles northeast of Hollywood, numerous media and entertainment companies are headquartered or have significant production facilities in Burbank, including Warner Bros. Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, The Burbank Studios, Cartoon Network Studios with the West Coast branch of Cartoon Network, and Insomniac Games. The Hollywood Burbank Airport was the location of Lockheed's Skunk Works, which produced some of the most secret and technologically advanced airplanes, including the U-2 spy planes that uncovered the Soviet Union missile components in Cuba in October 1962.
  Burbank consists of two distinct areas: a downtown/foothill section, in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains, and the flatland section. The city was referred to as "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
context_section_description: The second-largest office space market in the San Fernando Valley is located in Burbank. Much of the space is utilized by the entertainment industry, which has among the highest office lease rates in the region. In 2017, two entities owned about 70% of Burbank's office space.
  About 150,000 people work in Burbank each day, or more than live in the city. As of 2016, only 25% of the city's employed residents worked in Burbank. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2012 there were 17,587 companies within the city of Burbank and with combined payroll totaling in excess of $13.4 billion.
  A good chunk of Burbank's economy is based on the entertainment industry, everything from Mickey Mouse to SpongeBob SquarePants. While Hollywood may be a symbol of the entertainment industry, much of the actual production occurs in Burbank. Many companies have headquarters or facilities in Burbank, including Warner Bros. Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Legendary Pictures, The Walt Disney Company, ABC, Cartoon Network Studios with the West Coast headquarters of Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, New Wave Entertainment, Insomniac Games and West Coast Customs.
  Many ancillary companies from Arri cameras, to Cinelease, Entertainment Partners, JL Fisher, and Matthews Studio Equipment also maintain a presence in Burbank. Xytech Systems Corporation, a business software and services provider to the entertainment industry, is headquartered in Burbank.
  Local IATSE union offices for the Stagehands Local 33, Grips Local 80, Make-up and Hairstylist Local 706, Set Painters Local 729 and Animation Guild Local 839 also make their home in Burbank with Teamsters Local 399, IBEW Local 40 and many other IATSE locals nearby.
  Burbank's economy felt stress as a result of the recession. From 2007 to 2016, the city had more than 1,200 home foreclosures, with about three-fourths of them happening from 2007 to 2011. City officials prepared for cutbacks going into 2009. Burbank's City Manager, Mike Flad, estimated the city's 2009–10 fiscal budget would suffer a 5% shortfall. In fact, the city's budget woes continued well into 2017. At the beginning of the budget development process for fiscal 2016–17, the city's staff was projecting a recurring budget deficit of $1.3 million for the year. That followed several years of across-the-board budget cuts by various city departments, according to budget documents. Even so, the city still managed to add some new positions and increase fire staffing. One of the increased costs Burbank and many other California cities are coping with is unfunded pension liability.
  The city manager's budget message in 2016-17 identified Burbank's aging infrastructure as one of the top priorities of city officials but also one of its biggest financial challenges. The city's 2017 budget documents indicated Burbank should be spending at least $5 million more annually to address the backlog of maintenance on infrastructure and update Burbank's facilities. Regardless, the city forecasts it will post a deficit for at least the next five years, projecting about $9.4 million in red ink in fiscal year 2017-18 and a deficit of about $27.4 million by 2022–23.
  As of April 2012, unemployment in the Burbank area stood at 8.4%, or below the state's jobless rate of 10.9%, according to the California Employment Development Department. Back in January 2011, the unemployment rate in Burbank had reached 10.7%, according to EDD. By November 2017, though, the unemployment rate in Burbank was just 3.4%, below the 4.1% rate in Los Angeles County, according to EDD data.
  One bright spot in the otherwise bleak job market during the recession was Kaiser Permanente's decision to relocate some administrative offices near the Burbank airport. The relocation from Kaiser's Glendale and Pasadena administrative offices to Burbank was completed in 2009. Additionally, KCET television announced plans in 2012 to relocate to Burbank's Media District. KCET is a former PBS station and the nation's largest independent station in southern and central California. Hasbro Studio
caption: Looking north at Burbank from Griffith Park, 2006
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