San Juan Capistrano (Spanish for “St. John of Capistrano”) is a city in Orange County, California, located along the Orange Coast. The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census.
San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776, when St. Junípero Serra established Mission San Juan Capistrano. Extensive damage caused by the 1812 Capistrano earthquake caused the community to decline. Following the Mexican secularization act of 1833, the mission village officially became a town and was briefly renamed as San Juan de Argüello. Following the American Conquest of California, San Juan remained a small, rural town until the 20th century; the restoration of the mission in the 1910–20s transformed the town into a tourist destination and a backdrop for Hollywood films.
Geography
San Juan Capistrano is located in south Orange County and is bisected by Interstate 5.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.3 square miles (37 km2). 14.1 square miles (37 km2) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) of it (1.26%) is water.
Demographics
The 2020 United States Census reported a population of 35,253. The racial makeup was 70.6% White, .7% African American, 3.6% Asian, and 37.3% Hispanic or Latino of any race.