Bell is located on the west bank of the Los Angeles River and is situated north of South Gate. Bell Gardens lies to its east.
In March 2000, Bell gained worldwide publicity, as the media announced that a shipment of 55 Oscar statuettes were stolen from a trucking company loading dock in the City of Bell. In addition to the Los Angeles and Bell police departments, FBI art-theft experts were investigating. It was the second Oscar mishap, as earlier that month 4,000 ballots were misrouted. Coincidentally, the missing Oscar ballots were found by the Post Office in a Bell processing center. AMPAS Executive Director Bruce Davis was quoted as jokingly warning Billy Crystal (host of that year's Oscar Ceremony) not to go near Bell, because it "seems to be a Bermuda Triangle for Oscar things."
Every winter, The City of Bell hosts its annual "Bell Family Holiday Parade & Festival" which starts at Debs Park and ends at the Bell Community Center.
On November 29, 2005, in a Special Municipal Election, City of Bell residents voted to become a Charter city.
The City's Chamber of Commerce is located at the historic James George Bell House, which serves as a meeting place and in addition, a museum showcasing artifacts from the City's founding family and period furniture. The House is open to the general public with free admission.
On March 6, 2007, the City of Bell held its first contested election for City Council in almost a decade.
As of the census of 2000, there were 36,664 people, 8,918 households, and 7,615 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,708.1/km² (14,802.5/mi²). There were 9,215 housing units at an average density of 1,434.6/km² (3,720.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.45% White, 1.28% Black or African American, 1.28% Native American, 1.07% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 43.09% from other races, and 4.78% from two or more races. 90.90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Most of the non-Hispanic White population is of American, Lebanese and other Arab, Italian, and Irish descent.
There were 8,918 households out of which 57.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.0% were married couples living together, 18.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.6% were non-families. 11.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.05 and the average family size was 4.27.
In the city the population was spread out with 35.3% under the age of 18, 12.9% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 14.1% from 45 to 64, and 5.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 102.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $29,946, and the median income for a family was $30,504. Males had a median income of $22,596 versus $17,025 for females. The per capita income for the city was $9,905. About 21.2% of families and 24.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.7% of those under age 18 and 16.7% of those age 65 or over.