Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California , the city's population was , at the census. As of , Santa Ana is the third most populous city in Orange County after Anaheim and Irvine , the 14th-most populous city in California , and the 65th most populous city in the United States. Santa Ana is a major regional economic and cultural hub for the Orange Coast.
Following the Mexican War of Independence , the Yorba family rancho was enlarged, becoming one of the largest and most valuable in the region and home to a diverse Californio community. In , William H. Spurgeon then purchased the rancho and formally founded the modern city of Santa Ana. Approximately four-fifths Hispanic or Latino, Santa Ana has been characterized by The New York Times as the "face of a new California, a state where Latinos have more influence in everyday lifeβelectorally, culturally and demographicallyβthan almost anywhere else in the country.
The Tongva called the Santa Ana area "Hotuuk. This rancho was the only land grant in Orange County granted under Spanish Rule. Surrounding land grants in Orange County were granted after Mexican Independence by the new government.
Santa Ana was listed as a township of Los Angeles County in the and census, with an area encompassing most of what is now northern and central Orange County. It had a population of in and in The Anaheim district was enumerated separately from Santa Ana in Claimed in by Kentuckian William H.
Spurgeon on land obtained from the descendants of Jose Antonio Yorba , Santa Ana was incorporated as a city in with a population of and in became the seat of the newly formed Orange County. In , the California Central Railway which became a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway the following year broke the Southern Pacific's local monopoly on rail travel, offering service between Los Angeles and San Diego by way of Santa Ana as a major intermediate station.
