img
Change text size A

Write a Review About Lake Forest For A Chance to Win A $100 Amazon Gift Card

Back
Lake Forest California
Overall Rating
Star ratings are calculated by averaging a community’s percentile score for each individual category.

Read more

4.38 out of 5 stars
See detailed scores arrow-d-ic

Lake Forest is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 77,264 at the 2010 census.
Lake Forest incorporated as a city on December 20, 1991. Prior to incorporation, the community had been known as El Toro. Following a vote in 2000, Lake Forest expanded its city limits to include the master-planned developments of Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills. This expansion brought new homes and commercial centers to the Northeastern boundary of the city. Lake Forest (along with its neighboring cities Mission Viejo and Irvine) is ranked as one of the safest cities in the country.
Lake Forest has two lakes from which the city gets its name. The lakes are man-made, and condominiums and custom homes ranging from large to small line their shores. Neighborhood associations manage the lakes. Lake 1, known as the Lake Forest Beach and Tennis Club, and Lake 2, the Sun and Sail Club. Each facility features tennis courts, gyms, basketball courts, barbecue pits, volleyball courts, multiple swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs and club houses for social events.
The "forest" for which the city is also named lies in the area between Ridge Route, Jeronimo, Lake Forest and Serrano roads, and consists mostly of Eucalyptus trees. It is also man-made, and was created in the first decade of the 1900s when a local landowner, Dwight Whiting, planted 400 acres (1.6 km2) of Eucalyptus groves in the vicinity of Serrano Creek as part of a lumber operation intended to draw development to the area. In the late 1960s, the Occidental Petroleum company developed a residential community in and around the Eucalyptus groves, which had long since expanded and grown much more dense.

Become a community envoy on AgeFriendly.com Claim this city
Would you recommend Lake Forest, CA
to your older friends and family?

reviews (3)

Neighborhoods
Sort by

Beautiful

Was this review helpful? 0

There are retirement communities around, so it Is an age friendly community.

Was this review helpful? 0

OC is generally age friendly:Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo particularly.

Was this review helpful? 0

Your photo has been submitted and will appear on the city page after Admin’s approval. Thanks!