Welcome to San Juan Capistrano, the birthplace of Orange County!
San Juan Capistrano is the site of a Catholic mission for which it is named, Mission San Juan Capistrano. When the Mission was founded in 1776, the region was populated by the Acjachemen band of Native Americans, called Juaneños by the Spanish. The mission was named after Giovanni da Capistrano (1386-1456), the Franciscan saint from Capestrano, in the Italian region of Abruzzo.
The city is the site of California’s oldest residential neighborhood, Los Rios. It is also the home of the oldest in use building in California, the Serra Chapel in the Mission. The area was the site of both the first vineyard and first winery in California .
- First Mayor: Carl Buchheim
- Population: 34,953 (2010 census)
- Median Age: 42.2
- Median Income: $103,922
- Median Property Value: $931,000
- Number of Households: 12,238
- Number of Companies: 4,827
- City total area: 14.3 square miles
- Police: Orange County Sheriffs Department
- Fire: Orange County Fire Authority
- Government:
- Orange County Supervisor-5th District: Katrina Foley
- State Senator-38th District: Catherine Blakespear
- Assembly-73rd District: Laurie Davies
- US Congress-49th District: Mike Levin
- US Senate: Dianne Feinstein & Alex Pedilla
- City Council Members are: Howard Hart (Mayor), Sergio Farias, John Taylor, John Campbell and Tony A Bourne.
- Schools: Capistrano Unified School District