Laguna Beach is a seaside resort and artistic community located in southern Orange County, California, approximately 24 miles (39 km) southeast of downtown Santa Ana.

As of the census of 2000, there were 23,727 people, 11,511 households, and 5,778 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,035.1/km² (2,681.5/mi²). There were 12,965 housing units at an average density of 565.6/km² (1,465.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.99% White, 0.80% African American, 0.36% Native American, 2.08% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 2.21% from other races, and 2.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.62% of the population.

There were 11,511 households out of which 18.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.9% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.8% were non-families. 36.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.69.

In the city the population was spread out with 15.8% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 33.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 103.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $75,808, and the median income for a family was $100,778. Males had a median income of $66,221 versus $46,138 for females. The per capita income for the city was $58,732. About 2.8% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.

As with many coastal areas in Southern California, real estate in Laguna Beach is extremely expensive. The median home price has skyrocketed to $2,000,000. This has forced many potential home buyers out of the local market. This has been good and bad for local residents. Good because they can now sell their home for a lot more than they could have several years ago. Bad because most of the residents are middle to upper-middle class and on their incomes, many simply can't afford to buy a new home at the current median price. Like many other Southern California residents, residents of Laguna Beach are "House Rich" and/or "Money Poor" (ie. asset rich/income poor), which simply means that their homes are worth a significant amount of money but based on their median incomes, they wouldn't be able to afford a new home at the current median price or for the amount that their current home is worth.


Information courtesy of US Census Bureau and wikipedia.org