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Laguna Hills, California

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the South Coast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92637. The Survey maps it on the San Juan Capistrano quadrangle. 31,374 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 364 feet above sea level.

Laguna Hills within Orange County

Then and now

1901 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 82 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Laguna Hills, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Laguna Hills, surveyed 1901

Population over time

3 figures

Laguna Hills grew from 31,178 to 31,374 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
200031,178
201030,344-834 (-3%)
202031,374+1,030 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 37 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

189 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 189 fires within 5 miles of Laguna Hills between 2004 and 2020, burning about 224 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 58 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined72
Arson/incendiarism58
Smoking22
Equipment and vehicle use16
Misuse of fire by a minor14
Natural4
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Debris and open burning1
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 September 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreOrange County Fire Authoritynot named
5 September 2010Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
27 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
25 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
20 September 2007Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
13 September 2009Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
12 September 2007Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Laguna Hills: 2 past producers, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Diatomite, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Aliso ProspectDiatomiteOccurrence
El Toro DepositLimestone, General, Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Gravel PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this place

14 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Laguna Hills in 14 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 9 heavy rain, 2 flood, 1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2005Thunderstorm WindLaguna Hills$40,000Strong thunderstorm winds blew down fences, trees, and damaged the roof of a mobile home.
February 2025Heavy RainLaguna Hills-Trained spotter reported a total of 1.25 inches of rainfall from latest storm start.
February 2025Heavy RainLaguna Hills-Cumulative rain accumulation since storm started was at 2.81 inches. Of that amount, rainfall accumulation in the last 12 hours was 1.56 inches. Rate of precipitation started to pick up in the last 2-3 hours and was quite heavy at the moment.
February 2025Heavy RainLaguna Hills-Cumulative rainfall total so far since the start of storm early Wednesday morning, with a total of the 3.5 inched total. Of that, 0.69 inches fell within the last 12 hours.
March 2025Heavy RainLaguna Hills-Trained spotter reported cumulative rainfall total for last two back-to-back storms was 0.88.
March 2025Heavy RainLaguna Hills-Trained spotter reported rainfall total of storm through yesterday afternoon start for a total of 0.50 inches.
November 2025Heavy RainLaguna Hills-Trained spotter reported a storm total rainfall since Thursday evening of 1.51 inches.
January 2023Flash FloodLaguna Hills-Orange County Fire Authority reported a swiftwater rescue of a young adult clinging to a tree in a creek, with rapidly moving water below. The person was airlifted out with no injuries reported.
January 2023Heavy RainLaguna Hills-A trained spotter reported storm total rainfall of 1.4 inches through about 8 AM.
November 2022FloodLaguna Hills-Heavy rain fell across Orange County on November 8, leading to flooding. The Department of Highways reported flooding on the off ramp of I-5 at El Toro Rd near Lake Forest, and flooding on the onramp to I-5 from Oso Parkway.
March 2022Heavy RainLaguna Hills-Rainfall of 0.50 inch between 7 and 8 PM. Additional 0.60 inch overnight. Additional 0.4 inch Monday afternoon. Total of 1.40 inches. Other sites near this location reported 1.40 to 2.00 inches total.
December 2021FloodLaguna Hills-Reports of flooding on both highway on ramps of State Routes 133 and 73 off ramp. Rain rates of 0.40 to 0.50 inches and hour have fallen over the area with near an inch over the past 6 hours.
December 2021Heavy RainLaguna Hills-Spotter reports heavy rainfall in last two hours in Aliso Viejo area averaging about 0.6 per hour. In the last 30 minutes, heavier rainfall was reported and estimated to be closer to an inch per hour. Total interim rainfaill total is now 2 1/8 inch since start of storm.
April 2000HailLaguna Hills-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Orange County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Laguna Woods0.7 miles37
Mission Viejo2.3 miles37
Serrano Place2.7 miles47
Lake Forest2.7 miles47
El Toro2.8 miles47
Aliso Viejo3.4 miles37
Galivan3.6 miles37
Las Flores4.9 miles37

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Laguna HillsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q862679The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1667917. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.