Overview
About Pinecrest
Pinecrest covers 85.7 acres and records 422 addresses on 422 parcels with no unit designators, at a median lot of 0.103 acres. Twelve streets run 2.71 miles inside the boundary and most are species of pine: Bristlecone, Coulter, Foxtail, Limber, Longleaf, Ponderosa, Singleleaf and Whitebark, with Bishop, Shore, Spruce and Virginia alongside. Pinecrest Park sits inside the boundary at 21310 Pinecrest, 15.3 acres carrying a softball field, a soccer and football field, two playgrounds, four picnic tables, two barbecues and a walking trail, the largest city park inside any community in this guide.
All 85.2 classified acres sit at 3.5 to 6.5 homes an acre and the whole boundary lies in flood zone X. Saddleback Valley Unified serves it, and the district assigns campuses through an address locator rather than a published boundary map, so confirm the campus for a specific address at svusd.org.
View available homes in PinecrestHistory
How Pinecrest was built
Nearly every street in Pinecrest is a pine. Ponderosa, Bristlecone, Foxtail, Limber, Longleaf, Singleleaf, Whitebark, Coulter, Bishop, Virginia and Shore are all species of the genus Pinus, and only Spruce breaks the run. The bristlecone in particular is the tree that produces the oldest individual organisms on earth, some of them older than five thousand years in the White Mountains a few hours north of here.
The community holds 422 homes across 85.7 acres on the north side of the city, built between 1986 and 1988 on elevated lots above Lake Mission Viejo. The lake had been finished in 1978, so Pinecrest was among the neighborhoods laid out to look down on it rather than to reach it, and the raised ground is the reason the streets bend the way they do.
By the Numbers
Pinecrest by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Pinecrest lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Pinecrest
Saddleback Valley Unified serves Pinecrest. The district publishes assignment through an address locator rather than a boundary map, so the campuses below are its schools inside Mission Viejo with enrollment from the 2024-25 federal count.
9-12 · 2,475 students
9-12 · 1,566 students
9-12 · 200 students
7-12 · 80 students
7-8 · 713 students
7-8 · 595 students
K-6 · 540 students
K-6 · 444 students
K-6 · 390 students
K-6 · 362 students
K-6 · 308 students
K-6 · 263 students
K-12 · 149 students
FAQs
Common questions about Pinecrest
Is there a park in Pinecrest?
Yes. Pinecrest Park sits inside the boundary at 21310 Pinecrest, covering 15.3 acres with a softball field, a soccer and football field, two playgrounds, four picnic tables, two barbecues and a walking trail. It is the largest city park inside any of the fifty community boundaries in this guide.
Who developed Pinecrest?
The Mission Viejo Company. Its name appears in the owner's certificate on Tract 12440, recorded in December 1985, signing alongside the Santa Margarita Water District.
Why are the streets named after pines?
The recorded maps named them. Bristlecone, Coulter, Foxtail, Limber, Longleaf, Ponderosa, Singleleaf and Whitebark are all pine species, eight of the twelve street names the city records inside this boundary, with Bishop, Shore, Spruce and Virginia alongside them.
What is the aircraft easement here?
Tract 12440 carries an aircraft operations, sound, air space and vibration easement over every lot above a mean sea level elevation of 1,420 feet, recorded to the County of Orange in July 1979, from the years the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro was in operation.
Which schools serve Pinecrest?
Saddleback Valley Unified. The district assigns campuses through an address locator rather than a published boundary map, so confirm the campus for a specific address with the district at svusd.org.