Santa Ana, California

Santa Ana, California
Top: Santora Building (left) and Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center (right); middle: Santa Ana City Hall (left), West Coast Theatre (center), and high rises (right); bottom: Bowers Museum (left) and Old Santa Ana Courthouse
Motto: 
Education First
Location of Santa Ana within Orange County, California
Santa Ana
Santa Ana
Location in California
Santa Ana
Location in the United States
Santa Ana
Location in North America
Coordinates: 33°44′27″N 117°52′53″W / 33.74083°N 117.88139°W / 33.74083; -117.88139
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyOrange
Founded1869
IncorporatedJune 1, 1886
Named afterSaint Anne
Government
  MayorValerie Amezcua
  Mayor pro temBenjamin Vazquez
  City councilThai Viet Phan
Jessie Lopez
Phil Bacerra
Johnathan Ryan Hernandez
David Penaloza
  City managerAlvaro Nuñez
Area
  Total
27.37 sq mi (70.89 km2)
  Land27.34 sq mi (70.81 km2)
  Water0.03 sq mi (0.08 km2)  0.90%
Elevation
115 ft (35 m)
Population
 (2020)
  Total
310,227
  Rank(2023)
3rd in Orange County
14th in California
65th in the United States
  Density11,000/sq mi (4,400/km2)
Demonyms
  • Santanero (Spanish colloquial)
  • Santanera (Spanish colloquial)
Time zoneUTC−8 (Pacific)
  Summer (DST)UTC−7 (PDT)
ZIP Codes
92701–92708, 92711, 92712, 92728, 92735, 92799
Area code657/714, 949
FIPS code06-69000
GNIS feature IDs1652790,2411814
Websitesanta-ana.org

Santa Ana (Spanish for 'Saint Anne') is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As of 2023, Santa Ana is the third most populous city in Orange County (after Anaheim and Irvine), the 14th-most populous city in California, and the 65th most populous city in the United States. Santa Ana is a major regional economic and cultural hub for the Orange Coast.

In 1810, the Spanish governor of California granted Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana to José Antonio Yorba. Following the Mexican War of Independence, the Yorba family rancho was enlarged, becoming one of the largest and most valuable in the region and home to a diverse Californio community. Following the American Conquest of California, the rancho was sold to the Sepúlveda family, who subsequently lost their land claim. In 1869, William H. Spurgeon then purchased the rancho and formally founded the modern city of Santa Ana.

Approximately four-fifths Hispanic or Latino, Santa Ana has been characterized by The New York Times as the "face of a new California, a state where Latinos have more influence in everyday life—electorally, culturally and demographically—than almost anywhere else in the country."