San Juan Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano is a city in southern Orange County, California, located approximately 23 miles southeast of Downtown Santa Ana. The current OMB metropolitan designation for San Juan Capistrano and the Orange County Area is "Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA." The city was created around Mission San Juan Capistrano, and many of the homes and strip malls resemble the Spanish architecture that composes the building. It is home to the widest variety of homes in Orange County, including those built prior to 1900 in its central district (some being adobes from the 18th century), a number of 10-million-dollar homes in the gated communities of the hills, and working ranches in its foothills. San Juan Capistrano formerly hosted a population of cliff swallows that reputedly migrate each year from Argentina to the Mission San Juan Capistrano.

San Juan Capistrano is also famous for its cliff swallows. The protected birds are reputed to return from migration, traditionally originating in the town of Goya, Argentina, on St. Joseph's Day (March 19) each year, a day celebrated by the city's annual Swallows' Day Parade and other festive events and old west 1890s style Melodrama at the Camino Real Playhouse starring San Juan's Villain at Large Professor Mack played by Gary McCarver of The New Home for American Melodrama. Since 2009, the famous swallows have failed to return to San Juan Capistrano. They have instead begun migrating to and nesting in the Chino Hills of Southern California, north of San Juan Capistrano. They have built their mud nests in the eaves of the Vellano Country Club, situated around a golf course in the Chino Hills just north of the Chino Hills State Park.

The median income for a household in the city was $62,392, and the median income for a family was $69,481. Males had a median income of $47,574 versus $34,821 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,926. About 10.7% of the population and 6.6% of families were below the poverty line, including 14.8% of those under age 18 and 4.2% of those age 65 or over.