First, the bad news about the population of Orange County’s 34 cities—from pre-Covid-19 days of 2019 to today, the number of residents dropped 1.6% from 3.09 million to 3.04 million.
During that six-year stretch, the population of 27 cities declined, led by Santa Ana, which fell 6.6% from 337,716 in 2019 to 315,325 as of November. Other big decliners were Huntington Beach, off 5.2% to 193,134, Anaheim, down 4.9% to 341,773, and Mission Viejo, off 4.9% to 91,740.
The biggest increase in this six-year period was Irvine, up 14% to 318,629.
Besides the pandemic, the reasons for the declines are varied, everything from residents moving to areas with lower taxes and cheaper housing to a decline in birth rates and an aging population.
Now the good news—the hemorrhaging appears to have stopped as the population of these cities is up 1% from a year ago. The increase, while small, showed only two cities with declines that were negligible with only a handful of departures.
This year’s list is the Business Journal’s first since 2019. The data is based on city submissions as well as California and federal census records. The data excludes an estimated 137,000 who live in unincorporated Orange County.
The county’s population had grown for about 10 straight years from 2010 until the pandemic started in 2020.
Placentia’s Growth Spurt
The city of Placentia recorded the most growth—3.4% increase to 53,982, ranking it No. 20.
“Over the past year, the City of Placentia has continued to experience steady and positive economic activity, along with stable, modest population growth due to increased housing availability,” City Administrator Jennifer Lampman said.
She pointed to three developments that were completed in recent years, from a 418-unit luxury apartment complex called Jefferson Cenza to 54 new single-family homes on Alta Vista and Rose Drive. Two townhome projects are currently in progress and a community of 100 single-family homes called Vista Rose is also in the works.
The new developments have helped Placentia’s population remain relatively consistent, Lampman added.
Anaheim remains the largest city in OC with over 341,000 residents, up 0.5% from 2024.
Across the board, five cities reported an increase of more than 1% in population this year—Irvine, Santa Ana, Laguna Niguel, Placentia and Laguna Beach, according to Business Journal data.
Following Placentia, the city of Irvine saw 2.7% growth; it is in the middle of a residential building boom that will provide more than 10,000 new homes in the area formerly occupied by the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.
Irvine also became the second largest city in the county, leapfrogging over Santa Ana’s spot from 2019—which still counted a 1.5% increase to 315,325 people in 2025 despite the drop to No. 3.
Laguna Niguel with 65,257 residents and Laguna Beach with 22,763 citizens rose 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively.
Several developments with residential components are popping up all around Orange County, from Anaheim’s $4 billion-OCVibe project currently in phase one of construction to the 380 units coming to the Brea Mall as part of the ongoing redevelopment.
Other cities along with Placentia said that new housing developments are being approved to support the demand for more residential options, though affordability remains an issue.
The city of Brea, with a population of 47,900, said it expects to add over 2,000 households by 2030. Other factors for community growth include strong job markets and commercial bases that draw in said workers, Mayor Cecilia Hupp.
“Santa Ana’s growth is primarily driven by strong business investment, ongoing downtown revitalization, and a robust job market, while challenges such as housing affordability and limited land availability influence the pace of expansion,” a city spokesperson said.
Lake Forest also reported that limited land remained for development while rising housing costs could slow migration.
Additional Metrics
La Habra, Cypress and Los Alamitos each reported an 18% increase in city employees compared to a year ago. Overall, Orange County cities counted 16,881 city employees as of October.
As for general funds, OC cities grew revenues 2.5% to $3.7 billion compared to the last fiscal year.
The cities driving the uptick were Westminster, Buena Park and Stanton. The latter reported the largest growth of 15% to general fund revenue of $35 million for 2024 to 2025.
Westminster reported a 14% increase to almost $87 million for 2024 to 2025, and Buena Park jumped about 11% to $111 million in general fund revenue.
“The voters passed a sales tax measure last November and the general fund increase is attributed to those collections,” Buena Park City Manager Aaron France said.
The city of Huntington Beach—the fourth largest city in Orange County—appointed Casey McKeon as its new mayor on Dec. 2.
Editor’s Note: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article said the cities’ population declined 13% since 2019 when it actually fell 1.6%. The error was caused when Anaheim was excluded from an Excel spreadsheet.Â
