Santa Ana is the most populous city in Orange County, California and is the county seat. It lies approximately 10 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, on the largely seasonal Santa Ana River. The Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5) runs through the city, and the Costa Mesa Freeway (55 Freeway) and Garden Grove Freeway (22 Freeway) travel along its edges. It is today best-known for its enormous Hispanic population, now comprising over 75% of what was once a virtually all-white city. It has the highest percentage of Latinos among the 50 largest cities in America. The Current OMB metropolitan designation for Santa Ana and the Orange County Area is “Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA.”
GeographySanta Ana is located at (33.740717, -117.881408)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 71.0 km˛ (27.4 mi˛). 70.3 km˛ (27.1 mi˛) of it is land and 0.7 km˛ (0.3 mi˛) of it (0.95%) is water. It is the 8th most densely populated place in the United States with a population of 100,000 or more with 12,471.5 people per sq. mile.
EducationSanta Ana is home to Santa Ana College, a community college that is part of the Rancho Santiago Community College District. Mater Dei High School, Saddleback High School, and Santa Ana High School, Century High School other major schools in the area, along with the Orange County High School of the Arts in the downtown district. It also is home to one of the many post-secondary private Art Institutions of California.
Santa Ana Unified School District includes thirty-seven K-5 elementary schools, nine 6-8 intermediate schools, eight 9-12 high schools, five special schools, and one charter school. The school district provides an online accountability report card, viewable at this url address: http://www.sausd.k12.ca.us/departments/research_eval/accountability.asp
The Roman Catholic Diocesan K-8 schools available in Santa Ana are: School of Our Lady, Saint Anne, Saint Barbara, and Saint Joseph. (Immaculate Heart Of Mary And Our Lady Of the Pillar schools were closed in 2005 and merged into the School of Our Lady which is located at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. [1]
DemographicsAs of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 337,977 people, 73,002 households, and 59,788 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,808.2/km˛ (12,451.9/mi˛). There were 74,588 housing units at an average density of 1,061.1/km˛ (2,748.0/mi˛). Some consider these numbers to be severely undercounted, and put the population, which may consist of up to 25% illegal immigrants, at 500,000. [2] Santa Ana's population density is 4.6 per housing unit, the highest of any American city over 50,000. (By contrast, New York's is 2.8, and Los Angeles's density is 2.6 persons per housing unit.) Many residents live in illegally converted garages or in rooms not meant for occupancy. The city has attempted to reduce the number of individuals living inside one house by passing density limitations, which resulted in a civil rights lawsuit being filed and the limits ultimately dropped. [3]
The racial makeup of the city was 42.73% White, 1.70% African American, 1.19% Native American, 8.81% Asian, 0.34% Pacific Islander, 40.64% from other races, and 4.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 76.07% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites make up 12.4% of the population, a small fraction of what it was a majority in 1950 and 1960.
There were 73,002 households out of which 53.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.6% were married couples living together, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.1% were non-families. 12.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.55 and the average family size was 4.72.
In the city the population was spread out with 34.2% under the age of 18, 12.8% from 18 to 24, 34.1% from 25 to 44, 13.5% from 45 to 64, and 5.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 107.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.7 males. Santa Ana bucks the national trend on a large percentage of young people under the age of 21.
The median income for a household in the city was $43,412, and the median income for a family was $41,050. Males had a median income of $23,342 versus $21,637 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,152. About 16.1% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.1% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over. Santa Ana is a city divided by socio-economic class stratification after decades of immigration and economic prosperity.
The reason for Santa Ana's appeal to a large Hispanic immigrant population since the 1970s was its proximity to rich job markets, the cost of cheap housing until recently, the availability of multi-housing units dating back before the Orange County suburban boom, and a history of Mexican American culture is appealing to immigrants closely attached to Mexico. In 1970 (U.S. Census) the city's Hispanic percentage was 30 percent, then increased to 53 percent in 1980 and went up to 65 percent by 1990. Santa Ana has a large presence (compared to Orange county) of African Americans. Also large numbers of Asian Americans and Middle Easterners, such as Iranians, Indian Americans and Vietnamese arrived in Santa Ana during the 1980s.
TransportationAmtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Santa Ana several times on weekdays with less frequent service on weekends. It operates its Pacific Surfliner between San Diego, California to the south and either Los Angeles, California or Paso Robles, California to the north. Greyhound/Crucero USA are the largest bus transportation in Santa Ana. Crucero serves all points into Mexico. Greyhound serves the continental United States and Canada.
Santa Ana is also served by Metrolink's Orange County Line (Oceanside to Union Station), and Inland Empire-Orange County Line (San Bernardino to San Juan Capistrano).
The John Wayne Airport's mailing address is located in Santa Ana and its IATA code is SNA.
Notable natives and residentsSanta Ana (formerly Rancho Santiago) Community College established in 1878 has six satellite campus locations across Orange County.
The Orange County American Indian Center is a cultural hub for Santa Ana's large Native American community.
Greenville, a formerly rural section of Santa Ana, has buildings over a century-old, but industrial complexes replaced agricultural fields that once surrounded the town.
Santa Ana has several wall paintings and murals depicted local history, community events and cultural diversity in Orange County.
The semi-pro collegiate baseball team, the Orange County Fire of the Western Baseball Association play games in Rancho Santiago stadium.
Two folded sports teams: the Orange Crush/Santa Ana Freeway of the Western States Football League in the 1990s and the Santa Ana Fresca of the American Soccer League in the early 2000s, both played in Santa Ana.
Outside of Santa Ana:
Local fans can head over to Angel Stadium of Anaheim and the Honda Center for major league baseball (the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), ice hockey (the Anaheim Ducks) and other sports teams, as well for concerts and venues.
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