Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most populous county in California, the sixth most populous in the U.S., and more populous than 27 U.S. states and Washington D.C.. Although largely suburban, it is the second most densely populated county in the state, behind San Francisco County. The county's three most populous cities are Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, each of which has a population exceeding 300,000. Santa Ana is also the county seat. Six cities in Orange County are on the Pacific coast, including Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente.
Orange is a city located in Orange County, California. It is approximately 3 miles north of the county seat, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before 1920. While many other cities in the region demolished such houses in the 1960s, Orange decided to preserve them. The small city of Villa Park is surrounded by the city of Orange. The population was 139,911 as of 2020.
The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in California. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area encompasses this mountain range.
State Route 91 (SR 91) is a major east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves several regions of the Greater Los Angeles urban area. A freeway throughout its entire length, it officially runs from Vermont Avenue in Gardena, just west of the junction with the Harbor Freeway, east to Riverside at the junction with the Pomona and Moreno Valley freeways.
State Route 57 (SR 57), also known as the Orange Freeway for most of its length, is a north–south state highway in the Greater Los Angeles Area of California. It connects the interchange of Interstate 5 (I-5) and SR 22 near downtown Orange, locally known as the Orange Crush, to the Glendora Curve interchange with I-210 and SR 210 in Glendora. The highway provides a route across several spurs of the Peninsular Ranges, linking the Los Angeles Basin with the Pomona Valley and San Gabriel Valley.
The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, before cutting through the northern Santa Ana Mountains via Santa Ana Canyon and flowing southwest through urban Orange County to drain into the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Ana River is 96 miles (154 km) long, and its drainage basin is 2,650 square miles (6,900 km2) in size.
The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately 61 miles (98 km) southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside counties.
Olive is an unincorporated parcel of about 25 acres (100,000 m2) in the city of Orange, located along Lincoln Avenue, between Eisenhower Park and Orange Olive Road.
Orange Park Acres is an unincorporated community surrounded by the City of Orange in Orange County, California. Orange Park Acres is bordered by Santiago Canyon Road to the north and Chapman Avenue to the South. It comprises approximately 5,500 residents and is about 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2) in size. Almost all the homes in this county island are set on lots of 20,000 square feet (2,000 m2), a minimum requirement for this sector of Orange County. Most residents in the area are upper-middle-class or wealthy. It has several equestrian areas, and many stables throughout the community. The area has one shopping center and is adjacent to Santiago Canyon College. The ZIP Code is 92869, and the community is inside area code 714.
The San Joaquin Hills are a low mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System, located in coastal Orange County, California.
Santa Ana Canyon, or the Santa Ana Narrows, is the water gap where the Santa Ana River passes between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Chino Hills, near the intersection of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, California. It receives particularly strong Santa Ana winds in comparison to surrounding areas, hence the name.
Jamboree Road is a 15.8-mile (25.4 km) long major arterial road through Orange County, California, running through the cities of Newport Beach, Irvine, Tustin, and Orange.
Anaheim Hills is a planned community encompassing the eastern portions of the city of Anaheim, in Orange County, California.
Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was a 63,414-acre (256.63 km2) Spanish land concession in present-day Orange County, California, given by Spanish Alta California Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga in 1810 to Jose Antonio Yorba and his nephew Pablo Peralta. The grant extended eastward from the Santa Ana River to the Santa Ana Mountains, with a length of more than 22 miles (35 km).
Arroyo Trabuco is a 22-mile (35 km)-long stream in coastal southern California in the United States. Rising in a rugged canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County, the creek flows west and southwest before emptying into San Juan Creek in the city of San Juan Capistrano. Arroyo Trabuco's watershed drains 54 square miles (140 km2) of hilly, semi-arid land and lies mostly in Orange County, with a small portion extending northward into Riverside County. The lower section of the creek flows through three incorporated cities and is moderately polluted by urban and agricultural runoff.
Santiago Creek is a major watercourse in Orange County in the U.S. state of California. About 34 miles (55 km) long, it drains most of the northern Santa Ana Mountains and is a tributary to the Santa Ana River. It is one of the longest watercourses entirely within the county. The creek shares its name with Santiago Peak, at 5,687 ft (1,733 m) the highest point in Orange County, on whose slopes its headwaters rise.
San Diego Creek is a 16-mile (26 km) urban waterway flowing into Upper Newport Bay in Orange County, California in the United States. Its watershed covers 112.2 square miles (291 km2) in parts of eight cities, including Irvine, Tustin, and Costa Mesa. From its headwaters in Laguna Woods the creek flows northwest to its confluence with Peters Canyon Wash, where it turns abruptly southwest towards the bay. Most of the creek has been converted to a concrete flood control channel, but it also provides important aquatic and riparian habitat along its course and its tidal estuary.
There are 34 routes assigned to the "S" zone of the California Route Marker Program, which designates county routes in California. The "S" zone includes county highways in Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Barbara counties.
Carbon Canyon Dam is a dam at the northern edge of Orange County, California. The dam is approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the city of Brea and approximately 12 miles (19 km) north of the city of Santa Ana. The drainage area above the dam is 19.3 square miles (50 km2) and is encompassed entirely within the Puente and Chino Hills. The Carbon Canyon Creek flows in a generally southwesterly direction onto the coastal Orange County Plain, joins Coyote Creek, and then flows into the San Gabriel River.
