Carthay Circle is roughly bounded by Wilshire Boulevard on the north, La Cienega Boulevard on the west, Pico Boulevard on the south, and Fairfax Avenue on the east. Principal thoroughfares through the district include San Vicente, Olympic, and Crescent Heights Boulevards.

Carthay comprises three neighborhoods:
1) Carthay Circle, which lies to the north of Olympic Boulevard
2) South Carthay, which is south of Olympic and west of Crescent Heights Boulevard
3) Carthay Square, to the south of Olympic and east of Crescent Heights

Single-family houses are most prevalent in Carthay Circle and South Carthay, while two- and three-family houses prevail in Carthay Square. Mid-sized apartment buildings, mostly built in the 1930s, line the arterial peripheries of all three neighborhoods. Most of the houses, duplexes, and triplexes are built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Strict enforcement of restrictive covenants by the area's homeowners associations meant that most of these remained standing into the 1980s, when South Carthay was designated for preservation in Los Angeles' Historic Preservation Overlay Zone program; Carthay Circle followed in the 1990s.

For the year ending 12.31.10:

CARTHAY CIRCLE: The average sale was $991,175 for 2,241 sq ft on a 7,717 sq ft lot. A total of 9 homes were sold with an average of 66 days on market.

SOUTH CARTHAY: The average sale was $1,145,667 for 2,349 sq ft on a 7,118 sq ft lot. A total of 6 homes were sold with an average of 51 days on market.