Buena Park (BWEH-nuh); buena, Spanish for "good") is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, including Knott's Berry Farm. It is about northwest of downtown Santa Ana, the county seat, and is within the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
History
Indigenous The area of Buena Park was the site of the Tongva village known as Juyubit. The village was located alongside Coyote Creek at the foot of the West Coyote Hills. It was consistently recorded as one of the largest villages in Tovaangar. Being established alongside creeks in a valley, the village prospered. Oak trees provided acorns, while native grasses and sage bushes regularly produced seeds. Rabbit and mule deer were common sources of meat. Juyubit was a center for trade through a series of trails with coastal and mountain villages.
Spanish era
The Spanish established the nearby Mission San Gabriel in 1771. Hundreds of villagers from Juyubit were brought to the mission for conversion to Christianity and to work as laborers on the mission's grounds. Many of the villagers died quickly, with the high death rate at the mission and three of every four newborns dying before reaching the age of two.
Dissatisfaction with the poor conditions at the missions led to a revolt in 1785–1786 led by Toypurina, a medicine woman. Villagers from Juyubit were involved in the revolt, which did not succeed in ousting the Spanish. A few years after the revolt, a woman from Juyubit, Eulalia María, was baptized at the age of six. She became a godmother to as an adult before her death in 1818.
Spanish settlers began to establish larger settlements on ranchos by land grants made by the King of Spain. Manuel Nieto of the Portolà expeditions received a grant in 1783, which was divided by his heirs into five separate ranchos in 1834. One of them, Rancho Los Coyotes, included the current site of the City of Buena Park. The rancho's adobe headquarters lay on what is now Los Coyotes Country Club's golf course.
The area was transferred from Spanish authority to Mexican rule in 1822 and ceded to the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican–American War. California was granted statehood in 1850.
American era Americanization further expanded in the area after completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 and its connection to Los Angeles in 1875. By then, Abel Stearns had acquired Rancho Los Coyotes in consideration for loans made to Pio and Andrés Pico. In 1885, James A. Whitaker, a wholesale grocer from Chicago, purchased of this land from Stearns. In 1887, Whitaker founded the City of Buena Park in conjunction with the railway development of what we now know as Orange County.
The exact derivation of the name Buena Park is uncertain. One theory is that Whitaker used the name of a Chicago suburb: Buena Park, Chicago, Illinois, although the community in Illinois was also named in 1887. Another theory relates to the artesian well and its park-like grounds once located at the current intersection of what are now Artesia and Beach Boulevards. Local settlers referred to the area as "Plaza Buena" which means "good park" in Spanish.
The city was incorporated on January 27, 1953. An agricultural center when founded (particularly dairy, wine and citrus products), Buena Park is now primarily a residential suburb and commercial hub.
The Murder of Stuart Tay occurred in 1992.
In 2009, the body of swimsuit model and reality TV star Jasmine Fiore was found stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in an apartment building dumpster near the 7400 block of Franklin Street in northern Buena Park by a resident searching for recyclables.
Points of interest Buena Park's E-Zone district, located along Beach Boulevard, is home to several well-known tourist destinations: the venerable Knott's Berry Farm theme park and its sister water park Knott's Soak City, Pirate's Dinner Adventure Show, and a Medieval Times dinner show.Merritt, Christopher, and Lynxwiler, J. Eric. Knott's Preserved: From Boysenberry to Theme Park, the History of Knott's Berry Farm, pp. 12–19, Angel City Press, Santa Monica, CA, 2010. . The E-Zone has also been home to the Movieland Wax Museum, one of the largest of its kind in the world until it closed in 2005; a Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum that closed on March 30, 2009; and the Japanese Village and Deer Park on Knott Avenue.
Los Coyotes Country Club, located in the northeast of the city, boasts a 27-hole championship course originally designed by Billy Bell in 1957 and redesigned by Ted Robinson in 1998. The Los Coyotes LPGA Classic golf tournament has been hosted there.
The 105-acre Ralph B. Clark Regional Park (originally Los Coyotes Regional Park), nestled at the foot of the West Coyote Hills, is one of Orange County's prominent parks. Opened in 1981, it is home to an amphitheater, nature trails, and a stocked fishing pond, as well as the Interpretive Center, a small museum which features ice age fossil and local geology exhibits.
A Nabisco factory on Artesia Boulevard was known for many years as a Buena Park landmark. The red "Nabisco" sign was visible from the I-5 Freeway, and visitors to the town could often smell cookies. The factory produced Honey Maid graham crackers, Ritz Crackers, and Nilla Wafers, among other Nabisco products, before shutting down in 2006.Erin Uy, "Old Nabisco factory crumbling" , OC Register, September 23, 2006
The Source OC retail experience opened in 2017. This place is located north of Knott's Berry Farm.
Geography and climate According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it (0.28%) is water. One of the things Buena Park residents are proud of is that Buena Park is considered the center of the southland.
Buena Park is bisected by State Route 91 into North Buena Park and South Buena Park. It is bordered by Fullerton on the east, Anaheim on the southeast, Cypress on the southwest, Cerritos and La Palma on the west, and La Mirada on the north.
Demographics
Buena Park was first listed as an unincorporated community in the 1950 U.S. census as part of unincorporated Anaheim Township; and listed as a city in the 1960 U.S. census.
Racial and ethnic composition +Buena Park city, California – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010White alone (NH)48,88340,29829,88522,30216,33176.18%58.59%38.18%27.69%19.43%Black or African American alone (NH)6861,6402,8262,8092,5041.07%2.38%3.61%3.49%2.98%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)4414063151881740.69%0.59%0.40%0.23%0.21%Asian alone (NH)2,6285,97916,33821,23227,4994.10%8.69%20.87%26.37%32.72%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)3583893730.46%0.48%0.44%Other race alone (NH)1121141541393450.17%0.17%0.20%0.17%0.41%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)xx2,1851,8332,478xx2.79%2.28%2.95%Hispanic or Latino (any race)11,41516,87926,22131,63834,33017.79%24.53%33.50%39.29%40.85%Total64,16568,78478,28280,53084,034100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Buena Park had a population of 84,034. The population density was . The census reported that 100.0% of residents lived in urban areas and 0.0% lived in rural areas.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 21,799 25.9% Black or African American 2,717 3.2% American Indian and Alaska Native 1,079 1.3% Asian 27,858 33.2% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 434 0.5% Some other race 18,807 22.4% Two or more races 11,340 13.5% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 34,330 40.9%
The median age was 37.9years; 21.5% of residents were under the age of 18, 9.7% were aged 18 to 24, 28.2% were aged 25 to 44, 26.5% were aged 45 to 64, and 14.1% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.0 males age 18 and over.
Of the population, 99.2% lived in households, 0.5% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.2% were institutionalized. There were 25,155 households, of which 38.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 55.4% were married-couple households, 5.5% were cohabiting couple households, 24.6% had a female householder with no partner present, and 14.5% had a male householder with no partner present. About 13.8% of households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.31. There were 20,342 families (80.9% of all households).
There were 25,628 housing units, of which 1.8% were vacant; the homeowner vacancy rate was 0.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 1.7%. Of the 25,155 occupied units, 54.4% were owner-occupied, and 45.6% were occupied by renters.
2023 American Community Survey estimates In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $108,187, and the per capita income was $38,689. About 5.8% of families and 8.6% of the population were below the poverty line.
2010 census The 2010 United States census reported that Buena Park had a population of 80,530. The population density was . The racial makeup of Buena Park was 36,454 (45.3%) White (27.7% Non-Hispanic White), 3,073 (3.8%) African American, 862 (1.1%) Native American, 21,488 (26.7%) Asian, 455 (0.6%) Pacific Islander, 14,066 (17.5%) from other races, and 4,132 (5.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31,638 persons (39.3%).
The Census reported that 79,716 people (99.0% of the population) lived in households, 553 (0.7%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 261 (0.3%) were institutionalized.
There were 23,686 households, out of which 10,367 (43.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13,570 (57.3%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,789 (16.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,746 (7.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,167 (4.9%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 166 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,398 households (14.3%) were made up of individuals, and 1,386 (5.9%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.37. There were 19,105 families (80.7% of all households); the average family size was 3.67.
The population was spread out, with 20,361 people (25.3%) under the age of 18, 8,610 people (10.7%) aged 18 to 24, 22,688 people (28.2%) aged 25 to 44, 20,320 people (25.2%) aged 45 to 64, and 8,551 people (10.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.5 males.
There were 24,623 housing units at an average density of , of which 13,428 (56.7%) were owner-occupied, and 10,258 (43.3%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.0%. 45,084 people (56.0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 34,632 people (43.0%) lived in rental housing units.
According to the 2010 United States census, Buena Park had a median household income of $64,205, with 11.1% of the population living below the federal poverty line. Economy
Top employers
According to the city's 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:
# Employer # of employees1Knott's Berry Farm5,0712Leach4833PepsiCo4774Access Business Group3725Yamaha3506RIA Financial/AFEX Money Express3487City of Buena Park2818Walmart2699Exemplis Manufacturing25010House of Imports249
Supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market is based in Buena Park. A Nabisco factory built in 1965 once employed as many as 500 before being shut down; it was demolished in 2006.