Beverly Hills, California Zoning Map

Single-family residential, by a wide margin. The One Family Residential districts - led by R-1.X at roughly 1,367 acres and base R-1 at about 490 acres, plus several finely graded variants - account for the great majority of the city's land. Beverly Hills is fundamentally a low-density estate-and-neighborhood city with a concentrated commercial core, not a high-density market.

Intensively and with graduated transitions. The Commercial Zone (C-3) at about 171 acres anchors the business core, supplemented by C-3A, C-3B, and C-5 districts. Three Commercial Transition Zones (C-3T-1, C-3T-2, C-3T-3) deliberately step commercial intensity down where it meets residential neighborhoods, protecting the surrounding single-family fabric.

Through Specific Plans and overlays. The city maps three Specific Plans - the Beverly Hills Gardens Specific Plan, the Beverly Hills Hotel Specific Plan, and the Beverly Hilton Specific Plan - plus a Mixed Use Planned Development Overlay (M-PD-5). Large or signature sites are typically governed by these bespoke plans rather than standard district standards, so expect negotiated, project-specific entitlements.

Multifamily is limited and concentrated in the Multiple Residential (R-4) district, the principal higher-density zone at roughly 224 acres, with smaller R-3, R-4X1, R-4X2, and Residential Income districts. There is also a Multiple Family Residential Commercial Parking (RMCP) district and a Residential Parking (R-4-P) zone, reflecting how parking is woven into the city's multifamily areas.

State ADU statutes apply across the city's many One Family Residential districts, making accessory units one of the few by-right paths to add a dwelling in a market dominated by large-lot single-family zoning. On the city's substantial estate lots, ADUs can be a meaningful value-add, though local height, setback, FAR, and coverage standards still control the build.