Overview
About Serrano Heights
Serrano Heights is 428 acres northeast of Serrano and Cannon, the largest specific plan the City of Orange has drawn, holding 1,098 addresses on 5.93 miles of public street. More than half of it was never building ground: the general plan designates 222 acres open space and a further 27 acres open space ridgeline, a category the city uses nowhere else in these boundaries. Nearly four miles of the city recreation trail network run inside it and Santiago Oaks Regional Park, 1,028 acres, touches the boundary directly.
Four hundred and sixteen of the zoned acres are Planned Community and 11 acres are still zoned agricultural. None of the 1,098 addresses carries a unit designator, so the housing is detached throughout, with a median parcel of 0.127 acres. The school feed splits down the middle of the community, which is worth knowing before choosing a street: the city's parcel record sends 682 parcels to Canyon High by way of El Rancho Charter, and 497 to Villa Park High by way of Cerro Villa Middle. Elementary splits three ways, 500 parcels to Nohl Canyon, 480 to Anaheim Hills Elementary and 199 to Imperial Elementary.
View available homes in Serrano HeightsHistory
How Serrano Heights was built
Serrano is Spanish for a highlander, someone who lives in the sierra, and it is an honest name for a neighborhood that climbs a ridge. The ridge itself was the Nohl Ranch. Louis E. Nohl took a deed on 6 October 1943 to Santa Ana Canyon land the Bixby family had held since the 1880s, 5,800 acres carrying 1,100 head of cattle along with avocado and orange groves, and in October 1970 the bulk of it went to developers to become Anaheim Hills. This end of the same hills stayed empty for another generation, and Serrano Avenue was eventually pushed through to link Anaheim Hills to Orange across it.
Three developers carried the project in turn, which is why it took so long. Woodcrest Development signed its agreement with the City of Orange in October 1988, won council approval in September 1990 for as many as 1,800 homes and apartments across 727 acres, and was still the applicant in 1991. California Quartet took over in the mid 1990s with amendments in 1995 and 1997. SunCal Companies had it by 1999 and set the small lot standards that shape the eastern half. The houses themselves were built between 1999 and 2005, in tracts that took the names Apache Creek and Highpointe Estates.
By the Numbers
Serrano Heights by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Serrano Heights lifestyle
Beyond the city's own parks, Santiago Oaks Regional Park touches the boundary and covers 1,028 acres in the county's park layer, which records basketball courts, bird watching, equestrian trails and hiking trails.
Clipped to this boundary, the city's trail layers return 3.69 miles of recreation trail.
Schools
Schools serving Serrano Heights
Orange publishes the assigned school on every parcel in the city, which means the campuses below are the ones the city itself sends this boundary to rather than the ones that happen to be nearest. The city's parcel record assigns parcels here to Nohl Canyon Elementary (500), Anaheim Hills Elementary (480) and Imperial Elementary (199) for elementary, parcels here to El Rancho Charter (682) and Cerro Villa Middle (497) for middle and parcels here to Canyon High (682) and Villa Park High (497) for high. Enrollment is the 2024-25 federal count.
9-12 · 2,183 students
9-12 · 2,023 students
7-8 · 1,144 students
7-8 · 747 students
K-6 · 524 students
K-6 · 476 students
K-6 · 389 students
FAQs
Common questions about Serrano Heights
Who developed Serrano Heights?
Three developers in succession. Woodcrest Development, Incorporated signed the development agreement with the city on 25 October 1988, California Quartet took over as successor in interest with amendments in 1995 and 1997, and SunCal Companies had the project by 1999. The houses themselves came from Centex Homes and KB Homes, both named on the tract maps in the city's plan index.
When was Serrano Heights built?
The county recorded thirteen tract maps inside the boundary between 1999 and 2005, all of them prepared by Jerry L. Uselton of Fuscoe Engineering. The planning behind it runs back further, to a development agreement signed in 1988 and a specific plan environmental report prepared in 1990.
Which high school serves Serrano Heights?
Both Canyon High and Villa Park High, depending on the parcel. Orange publishes an assigned school on every parcel, and the city's record sends 682 parcels to Canyon High, which enrolled 2,183 students on the 2024-25 federal count, and 497 to Villa Park High, which enrolled 2,023. Middle school follows the same split, El Rancho Charter at 1,144 students for the first group and Cerro Villa Middle at 747 for the second.
How much open space is there in Serrano Heights?
The general plan designates 222 of the 428 acres as open space and a further 27 acres as open space ridgeline. The city's recreation trail layer runs 3.69 miles inside the boundary and Santiago Oaks Regional Park, which the county measures at 1,028 acres, touches it directly.
How big are the lots in Serrano Heights?
The median parcel measures 0.127 acres on the city's own parcel geometry, across 1,180 recorded parcels, and lot sizes vary by development area. SunCal's June 2000 zone change set development area 2 at an average of 4,500 square feet with a 3,450 square foot minimum. Four hundred and sixteen of the zoned acres are Planned Community, so lot standards come from the specific plan rather than a citywide zoning minimum.