With a circulation of 78,000, the paper each week reaches more than 224,000 active, educated and affluent readers, who look to the Weekly to guide their lifestyle and entertainment choices. Readers rely on the Weekly's intelligent and unconventional coverage of local social issues, politics, arts and culture.

In 2007, OC Weekly took second place for general excellence in the prestigious Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards, a contest in which it competed against dailies and weeklies in its circulation category from across the country. The Weekly has also won numerous awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, including that organization’s decision in 2007 to honor investigative reporter and “Ask a Mexican” columnist Gustavo Arellano with its prestigious President’s Award.