Orange County is a county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. 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 United States, and more populous than 19 American 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: Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente.
Santa Ana is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As of 2023, Santa Ana is the third most populous city in Orange County, the 14th-most populous city in California, and the 65th most populous city in the United States. Santa Ana is a major regional economic and cultural hub for the Orange Coast.
Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, with the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County at its center, and Orange County to the southeast. The Los Angeles–Anaheim–Riverside combined statistical area (CSA) covers 33,954 square miles (87,940 km2), making it the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area. The contiguous urban area is 2,281 square miles (5,910 km2), whereas the remainder mostly consists of mountain and desert areas. With an estimated population of over 18.3 million, it is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, behind New York, as well as one of the largest megacities in the world.
The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system in the world in the 1920s. Organized around the city centers of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, it connected cities in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County.
The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is the transportation planning commission for Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. OCTA is responsible for funding and implementing transit and capital projects for the transportation system in the county, including freeway expansions, express lane management, bus and rail transit operation, and commuter rail funding and oversight.
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 55 (SR 55) is an 18-mile (30-km) long north–south state highway that passes through suburban Orange County in the U.S. state of California. The portion of the route built to freeway standards is known as the Costa Mesa Freeway. SR 55 runs between Via Lido south of Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach and the Riverside Freeway in Anaheim to the north, intersecting other major Orange County freeways such as SR 22, SR 73, and Interstate 405 (I-405).
A vast network of interconnected freeways in the megaregion of Southern California serves a population of over 23 million people. The Master Plan of Metropolitan Los Angeles Freeways was adopted by the Regional Planning Commission in 1947 and construction began in the early 1950s. The plan hit opposition and funding limitations in the 1970s, and by 2004, only some 61% of the original planned network had been completed.
Area codes 714 and 657 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan for the southern part of the U.S. state of California. The numbering plan area comprises northern Orange County, a portion of Los Angeles County, and the Sleepy Hollow and Carbon Canyon areas of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. Area code 714 was assigned to a part of numbering plan area 213 in 1951, and 657 was added in 2008 to form an overlay complex.
The Surf Line is a railroad line that runs from San Diego to Orange County along California's Pacific coast. It was so named because much of the line is near the Pacific Ocean, within less than 100 feet (30 m) in some places. It is the second busiest passenger rail corridor in the United States after the Northeast Corridor.
State Route 47 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting Terminal Island to the mainland in the Los Angeles area. From its south end at I-110 in San Pedro, it heads east across the Vincent Thomas Bridge to the island and the end of state maintenance. The state highway begins again at the junction with I-710 on Terminal Island, crossing the Schuyler Heim Bridge north to the mainland and the second terminus, where SR 103 begins. Signage continues along a locally maintained route, mainly Alameda Street, to the Gardena Freeway in Compton, and an unconstructed alignment follows the same corridor to the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) near downtown Los Angeles.
California's 46th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California.
California's 47th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California.
Harbor Boulevard is a north–south road corridor in the counties of Los Angeles and Orange. One of the busiest routes in Orange County, the thoroughfare passes through some of the most densely populated areas in the region and carries about 8 percent of the county's bus riders. The route provides access for local residents to travel to work and for drivers travelling from Valley Boulevard in the City of Industry via Fullerton Road to Newport Beach.
Greater Los Angeles has a complex multimodal transportation infrastructure, which serves as a regional, national and international hub for passenger and freight traffic. The transportation system of Greater Los Angeles includes the United States' largest port complex, seven commuter rail lines, Amtrak service, a subway system within the city of Los Angeles, and numerous highways. Los Angeles is integrated into the Interstate Highway System by Interstate 5, Interstate 10, and Interstate 15, along with numerous auxiliary highways and state routes. Bus service is also included locally within the area by numerous local government agencies. Subways and light commuter rail lines are present within Los Angeles proper, allowing mass transportation within the city. Commuter railroads are run by Metrolink. Amtrak has numerous railroad lines that connect Los Angeles to the rest of the country.
The Balboa Line was the southernmost route of the Pacific Electric Railway. It ran between Downtown Los Angeles and the Balboa Peninsula in Orange County by way of North Long Beach, though the route was later cut back to the Newport Dock. It was designated as route 17.
The West Santa Ana Branch is a rail right-of-way formerly used by the Pacific Electric's (PE) Santa Ana route in Los Angeles County and Orange County in Southern California. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) owns the segment of the right-of-way in Los Angeles County, and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) owns the segment in Orange County.
Sports in Orange County, California includes a number of sports teams and sports competitions. Within Orange County, the city of Anaheim currently hosts two major league sports teams — MLB's Los Angeles Angels and the NHL's Anaheim Ducks — and used to host two others.
The Santa Ana–Huntington Beach Line is a former Pacific Electric interurban railway line in Orange County, California. Unlike most of the company's services, trains did not travel to Downtown Los Angeles and instead provided a suburban service between Santa Ana and Huntington Beach, for a time running as far as Balboa.
