Overview
About Pacific Shores
Pacific Shores covers 45.4 acres and holds 131 addresses on 153 parcels, at a median parcel of 0.141 acres. Nine streets serve it, led by Via Santa Maria with 41 addresses, then Santa Clara and Via Zaragoza. It is the 30th largest of the fifty San Clemente communities mapped here by area and the 32nd by address count.
Private open space takes 18.2 acres inside the boundary, marginally more than the 17.2 acres of Residential Low Density land, with 8.3 acres of public right of way. The whole boundary lies inside the Rancho San Clemente Specific Plan area and belongs to the Rancho San Clemente master association. Effectively all of it, 45.3 of 45.4 acres, sits in the state's High fire hazard severity class. Capistrano Unified's own school locator returned San Clemente High, Bernice Ayer Middle and Clarence Lobo Elementary at all five interior points tested.
View available homes in Pacific ShoresHistory
How Pacific Shores was built
Pacific Shores is one of the pockets inside Rancho San Clemente, the ranch on the hills southeast of Avenida Pico that the city first brought under its own plan in November 1983 and that builders filled in through the 1980s and 1990s. The streets here read like a run through Spain and the missions. Via La Mission, Via Santa Maria, Via Zaragoza, Camino San Jose, Calle Fresno and Paseo Alba are the sort of vocabulary Ole Hanson would have recognized, arriving about sixty years after he wrote Spanish design into the deeds of the town below.
Rancho San Clemente is a large piece of ground, 1,943 acres running from under eighty feet above the sea to more than nine hundred. The plan that governs it singles out a primary ridgeline and a knoll above Avenida Pico for protection, because both are visible from most of the city, and it left 1,097 acres, more than half the ranch, as permanent open space. That is why a neighborhood up here backs onto slope rather than onto another neighborhood, and it is why the ridgeline pedestrian trail exists at all.
By the Numbers
Pacific Shores by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Pacific Shores lifestyle
San Clemente keeps ten beaches of its own along the shore, from North Beach past the pier to Riviera, and the city's Marine Safety division staffs them. The pier itself carries restrooms, metered parking, fire rings and the Amtrak and Metrolink platform at its foot.
The city publishes five trail networks that run from the sand up into the canyons and along the ridgelines. Bikes are welcome on all of them, electric bikes are not allowed on the Beach Trail, dogs are welcome on a leash, and horses are permitted on the Forster Ridgeline, Prima Deshecha and Cristianitos trails. City parks are open from 6 am to 10 pm without a reservation unless a group needs a permit.
Schools
Schools serving Pacific Shores
Capistrano Unified assigns Pacific Shores to San Clemente High, Bernice Ayer Middle and Clarence Lobo Elementary. The district's own school locator returned the same assignment at every point tested inside the boundary, and enrollment comes from the federal count for 2024-25.
9-12 · 2,740 students
6-8 · 919 students
K-5 · 328 students
FAQs
Common questions about Pacific Shores
How big is Pacific Shores?
The boundary the city publishes covers 45.4 acres, with 131 addresses on 153 parcels at a median of 0.141 acres. It is the 30th largest of the fifty San Clemente communities mapped here.
Which schools serve Pacific Shores?
Capistrano Unified's school locator returned San Clemente High, Bernice Ayer Middle and Clarence Lobo Elementary at all five points tested inside the boundary. Confirm the assignment for a specific address with the district before you rely on it.
When was Pacific Shores built?
Tract 12864 was recorded in 1988, and the county assessor carries a build year of 1989 on all 128 of the parcels here that carry one.
How much open space is inside the boundary?
The city's land use layer gives 18.2 acres to private open space, slightly more than the 17.2 acres it gives to Residential Low Density land.
What is the fire hazard rating?
45.3 of the 45.4 acres sit in the state's High fire hazard severity class. Raise it with an insurer early.