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.
Then and now
1901 to 1983The 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.


Population over time
3 figuresLaguna 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 31,178 | |
| 2010 | 30,344 | -834 (-3%) |
| 2020 | 31,374 | +1,030 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
15 surveys from 37 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1902 USGS Corona quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Santiago Peak quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Juan Capistrano quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1949 USGS San Juan Capistrano quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS San Juan Capistrano quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1974 USGS San Juan Capistrano quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
189 since 2004Regional 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/undetermined | 72 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 58 |
| Smoking | 22 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 16 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 14 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Orange County Fire Authority | not named |
| 5 September 2010 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 28 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 27 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 25 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 20 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 13 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 12 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aliso Prospect | Diatomite | Occurrence | ||
| El Toro Deposit | Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
14 since 2000Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Laguna Hills | $40,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds blew down fences, trees, and damaged the roof of a mobile home. |
| February 2025 | Heavy Rain | Laguna Hills | - | Trained spotter reported a total of 1.25 inches of rainfall from latest storm start. |
| February 2025 | Heavy Rain | Laguna 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 2025 | Heavy Rain | Laguna 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 2025 | Heavy Rain | Laguna Hills | - | Trained spotter reported cumulative rainfall total for last two back-to-back storms was 0.88. |
| March 2025 | Heavy Rain | Laguna Hills | - | Trained spotter reported rainfall total of storm through yesterday afternoon start for a total of 0.50 inches. |
| November 2025 | Heavy Rain | Laguna Hills | - | Trained spotter reported a storm total rainfall since Thursday evening of 1.51 inches. |
| January 2023 | Flash Flood | Laguna 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 2023 | Heavy Rain | Laguna Hills | - | A trained spotter reported storm total rainfall of 1.4 inches through about 8 AM. |
| November 2022 | Flood | Laguna 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 2022 | Heavy Rain | Laguna 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 2021 | Flood | Laguna 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 2021 | Heavy Rain | Laguna 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 2000 | Hail | Laguna Hills | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laguna Woods | 0.7 miles | 37 | |
| Mission Viejo | 2.3 miles | 37 | |
| Serrano Place | 2.7 miles | 47 | |
| Lake Forest | 2.7 miles | 47 | |
| El Toro | 2.8 miles | 47 | |
| Aliso Viejo | 3.4 miles | 37 | |
| Galivan | 3.6 miles | 37 | |
| Las Flores | 4.9 miles | 37 |
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 Hills | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q862679 | The 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.














