Orange County, CA — Home-Buyer Records Checklist

State

California

County seat

Santa Ana

Population (2024 est.)

3,170,435

Land area

790.6 sq mi

County FIPS

06059

Orange County at a glance

Orange County is one of 58 counties and county-equivalents in California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. County government publishes its offices and parcel tools online. Official county website. With a 2024 Census Bureau population estimate of 3,170,435, it is the third most populous county in California. In the FBI's 2024 reported-crime file, agencies here reported 63,760 offenses — 20.11 per 1,000 residents; the breakdown is below.

Records to check before you buy in Orange County

Property record card — the Orange County assessor / appraisal office. Pull the parcel's assessed-value history, exemption status, and last sale. This is the file your future tax bill is calculated from, and it shows whether the current owner is enjoying exemptions you will not inherit. County government sits in Santa Ana; the official county website is the reliable route to the parcel search and the office directory.
Deeds & liens — the Orange County recorder / land-records office. Read the deed chain, open liens, easements, and plat maps — the file a listing never mentions.
Official flood determination. Check the exact parcel on FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer — not the listing site's licensed model. Zone boundaries cut through streets; the house next door can be in a different zone. Orange County is the primary county for 88 ZIP codes in the Census Bureau's ZIP-to-county crosswalk — and zone lines ignore every one of them.
The county's reported-crime record. In the FBI's 2024 file, agencies in Orange County reported 63,760 offenses — 20.11 per 1,000 residents; the largest single category was larceny-theft (39,498). The crime section below sets that beside the California county median.
Registry check. Run the address through California Megan's Law Website (California Department of Justice) and note the counts within a mile — then check again the week you close.
Permits & code history — the Orange building department. Open permits, expired permits, and code cases tell you whether the renovation in the photos was ever inspected. County permitting is run out of Santa Ana.
School assignment — the district office, not the listing. Only the district's own boundary lookup confirms which school an address is actually zoned for.

County list, land area and population: U.S. Census Bureau (population: 2024 PEP estimate). County seat and official website: Wikidata (CC0), checked 2026-11-04. Flood determinations: FEMA. Registry: California.

Reported crime in Orange County — FBI 2024

Agencies in Orange County reported 63,760 offenses to the FBI in 2024 — 9,892 violent and 53,868 property offenses. That works out to a reported-crime rate of 20.11 per 1,000 residents (violent 312.0, property 1699.1 per 100,000).

Inside California, the median county in the same file recorded a violent-crime rate of 458 per 100,000 and a property-crime rate of 1,315 per 100,000 (medians computed from the FBI 2024 county file across 58 counties).

The largest reported categories were larceny-theft (39,498), burglary (7,711) and aggravated assault (6,912).

Coverage: 41 of 41 law-enforcement agencies assigned to this county reported at least one month of 2024 offense data to the FBI; 40 reported all 12 months. Counts are reported offenses only (FBI Return A / Arson master files), assigned whole to each agency's primary county; they are not adjusted for non-reporting agencies.

These are offenses reported to law enforcement — not convictions, and not a verdict on any street or address. A CurbFacts report pairs this county record with the ZIP-level picture for the specific address you are buying.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, UCR Return A + Arson master files, data year 2024 (pulled 2026-11-04).

Check the records behind the address before you offer.

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ZIP guides in Orange County

Registry counts and county crime records for the 80 ZIP codes whose primary county is Orange County.

90620 — Buena Park 90621 — Buena Park 90623 — La Palma 90630 — Cypress 90631 — La Habra 90680 — Stanton 90720 — Los Alamitos 90740 — Seal Beach 92602 — Irvine 92604 — Irvine 92606 — Irvine 92610 — Lake Forest 92612 — Irvine 92614 — Irvine 92617 — Irvine 92618 — Irvine 92620 — Irvine 92624 — Dana Point 92626 — Costa Mesa 92627 — Costa Mesa 92629 — Dana Point 92630 — Lake Forest 92637 — Laguna Woods 92646 — Huntington Beach 92647 — Huntington Beach 92648 — Huntington Beach 92649 — Huntington Beach 92651 — Laguna Beach 92653 — Laguna Hills 92655 — Midway City 92656 — Aliso Viejo 92660 — Newport Beach 92662 — Newport Beach 92663 — Newport Beach 92673 — San Clemente 92675 — San Juan Capistrano 92676 — Lake Forest 92677 — Laguna Niguel 92679 — Coto de Caza 92683 — Westminster 92688 — Rancho Santa Margarita 92691 — Mission Viejo 92692 — Mission Viejo 92694 — Ladera Ranch 92701 — Santa Ana 92703 — Santa Ana 92704 — Santa Ana 92705 — North Tustin 92706 — Santa Ana 92707 — Santa Ana 92708 — Fountain Valley 92780 — Tustin 92782 — Tustin 92801 — Anaheim 92802 — Anaheim 92804 — Anaheim 92805 — Anaheim 92806 — Anaheim 92807 — Anaheim 92808 — Anaheim 92821 — Brea 92823 — Brea 92831 — Fullerton 92832 — Fullerton 92833 — Fullerton 92835 — Fullerton 92840 — Garden Grove 92841 — Garden Grove 92843 — Garden Grove 92844 — Garden Grove 92845 — Garden Grove 92861 — Villa Park 92865 — Orange 92866 — Orange 92867 — Orange 92868 — Orange 92869 — Orange 92870 — Placentia 92886 — Yorba Linda 92887 — Yorba Linda

The California rules that apply in Orange County

Disclosure form

Transfer Disclosure Statement

Flood disclosure

Required by state law

Tax reset at sale

Yes

Reassessment cycle

only on sale (change of ownership) or new construction

Traps researched for California buyers: Proposition 13 sale reset and supplemental tax bill; Natural Hazard Disclosure is separate from the condition disclosure.

Read the full California guide — disclosure standard, tax math, registry and flood

More California counties

Mono County Monterey County Napa County Nevada County Placer County Plumas County Riverside County Sacramento County

All California counties · California buyer guide

See what the listing doesn't say.

Every CurbFacts report pulls the public records behind an address — flood determination, registry, tax reset, price history, permits, and what's planned nearby — and shows its sources.