If you have ever traveled to California, then you know about Orange County, even if you have never been there before. Orange County is a county located within California. It has a population of over 3 million which make it the third largest populated county within California and the 6th largest populated within the whole United States, which is more than 21 different states. Located in Orange County, lies Santa Ana. This area is the most densely populated area in California and it comes in second behind San Francisco County. This county also is the home to large cities such as Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Anaheim, and Irvine, which all have populations of over 200,000 people. There are several cities located on the Pacific Coast of Orange County like Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente, and Huntington Beach.
Orange County is part of the Long Beach- Anaheim-Los Angeles, California Metropolitan Area. It has 34 incorporated cities located in this county with the newest being Aliso Viejo, which joined in 2001. Anaheim was the first city when it joined in 1870, when the region was still part of Los Angeles County. Most of the population tends to be centered around a major city, there isn’t a defined urban center within Orange County. It is mainly a suburban area except some of the more traditionally urban areas in older cities like Fullerton, Orange, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, and Santa Ana. There are a lot of edge city type of developments like Newport center, Irvine Business Center, and South Coast Metro.
Orange County is really popular due to all the tourism that comes through simply because it is the home for attractions like Knott’s Berry Farm, DisneyLand, and really beautiful beaches along the 40 miles of coastline. It is also known for political conservatism where it was ranked among the top 25 most conservative with 3 main cities making it one of 2 counties in the nation that has more than 1 conservative city in it. It is also part of the Tech Coast.
Orange County is also the home to a lot of Fortune 500 companies like First American Corporation, Pacific Life, Ingram Micro, Western Digital, and Broadcom. It is also home to a lot of Fortune 1000 companies like Standard Pacific, Allergan, Epicor, and Sun Healthcare Group. There are many more as they are also home to Blizzard Entertainment, the famous computer/video game creator.
Orange County also has some pretty amazing malls like Fashion Island, South Coast Plaza, Brea Mall, Downtown Disney, and more.
Tourism is still a big part of the economy in Orange County. Anaheim is the main tourist hub as it homes Disneyland Resort and Disneyland itself. There is also the Anaheim Convention Center with holds a lot of major conventions through the year and with 7 million plus visitors yearly at Knott’s Berry Farm, there will be plenty to do within Orange County whether you live there or just visiting. This is one place that needs to be bookmarked as a place to visit.
