www.downeyca.org Downey is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, 21 km (13 mi) southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city is best known as the birthplace of the Apollo space program, and is the city where folk singer Karen Carpenter lived and died. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 111,772, up from 107,323 at the 2000 census.