Choosing target cities in Orange County is the first decision in a local SEO campaign here, and the county gives you a long list to work from: 34 incorporated cities plus a group of unincorporated communities. This guide sorts them with the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 population estimates and turns the result into the priority list our local SEO work begins with.
Start with size, then read the spread
Using the Vintage 2025 estimates (a county total of 3,149,507 for July 2025), the 34 cities fall into four size bands, largest band first, with the cities in each band listed smallest to largest:
- Over 300,000: Santa Ana (315,586), Irvine (318,764) and Anaheim (341,008).
- 100,000 to 200,000: Costa Mesa (108,881), the City of Orange (138,365), Fullerton (138,675), Garden Grove (170,455) and Huntington Beach (191,451).
- 50,000 to 100,000: Placentia, Fountain Valley, La Habra, San Clemente, Laguna Niguel, Yorba Linda, Tustin, Buena Park, Newport Beach, Lake Forest, Westminster and Mission Viejo.
- Under 50,000: Villa Park (5,645), Los Alamitos, La Palma, Laguna Woods, Laguna Beach, Seal Beach, Laguna Hills, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Stanton, Rancho Santa Margarita, Brea, Cypress and Aliso Viejo.
In the Vintage 2025 estimates no city falls between 200,000 and 300,000, and the three largest together hold about 31 percent of the county. A list built only on the top band leaves more than two thirds of residents out. Put your home city and its neighbors first, then use size to order the rest.
Growth between 2020 and 2025
The Vintage 2025 series also shows change since July 2020. Across those five years the county total dropped by 36,660 residents in the Vintage 2025 series, and six cities grew:
- Irvine: up 10,396, to 318,764
- Santa Ana: up 4,350, to 315,586
- Placentia: up 2,249, to 54,911
- Stanton: up 2,073, to 40,161
- Lake Forest: up 402, to 86,333
- Brea: up 19, to 47,260
The largest drops in the same Vintage 2025 series were in Huntington Beach (down 7,029) and Anaheim (down 5,637), and Anaheim stayed the largest city in the county. Use growth to break a tie between two cities of similar size and distance from your base.
Targeting the City of Orange from another city
The Vintage 2025 estimates put the City of Orange at 138,365, which is 310 fewer than Fullerton and seventh among the 34 cities. It is also the only city whose name matches the county's. If it is on your list and your address is in another city, label it with care: write "City of Orange" or "Orange, CA" in the heading and opening line of any page or section about it, so a reader can tell the city apart from the county.
Our overview page places the City of Orange in the Central County planning area with Santa Ana and Tustin, which gives you a ready group of cities to cover together. A business based inside the city has a separate question about how its own listings should read, and the FAQ on our Orange County page answers it.
Unincorporated communities
The Vintage 2025 estimates report the county's unincorporated residents as one balance-of-county figure: 130,926 in July 2025, against 132,245 in July 2020 in the same Vintage 2025 series. They live in places such as Rossmoor, Midway City, North Tustin, Trabuco Canyon, Coto de Caza, Ladera Ranch and Rancho Mission Viejo, none of which is among the 34 cities in the Vintage 2025 file.
A campaign covers these communities when you write them into your priority list, so name each one you serve. Mention them on the page for the nearest city you already cover as well.
Building your list of target cities in Orange County
Step 1: your city and the ones beside it
Put your own city at the top of the list, followed by every city that shares a border with it. The four planning areas on our local SEO in Orange County page group the 34 cities into North and West County, Central County, Irvine and South County, and the coast.
Step 2: order the rest by size and growth
Add cities from the size bands above, largest first, and use the 2020 to 2025 change to break ties.
Step 3: add communities by name
Add the unincorporated communities you serve, such as Ladera Ranch or Rossmoor, to the same list.
Step 4: decide which places get their own page
Name the whole list on your main service pages. An extra service area page, one of the extras on our local SEO plans, gives a single city or community its own page. Save those for places where you have jobs, photos or details that apply only there.
Step 5: send the list and review it monthly
Send the finished list with your order. Our local SEO service asks for your cities and neighborhoods ranked by priority, and builds its Map Pack targets from that order. Each month after that you get a report on where you rank, your Map Pack position and your traffic, and citations, content and links are adjusted toward what is moving.
An example from our case studies
For a business that serves the county from a base elsewhere, see our Enroute Limousine Services case study. It was a website project for a San Diego limousine company (services: Web Design). The case study names Orange County, San Diego, LA and Palm Springs as the 4 regions it serves, with 6 dedicated service pages.
Next step
Current plans are listed on our pricing page. Once your list is ready, contact us and we will start from it.
