Overview
About Laguna Woods
Laguna Woods covers 97.1 acres and holds 89 addresses on 109 parcels, at a median lot of 0.141 acres. Only four streets run inside the boundary, 1.4 miles between them: Laguna Woods Drive, Woodhaven Drive, Morning Wood Drive and Woodsong Drive. The proportions are unusual. The city's zoning layer gives 76.7 acres to open space against 12.6 acres to Single Family District 3, so more than three quarters of the boundary is not residential ground at all.
The city's HOA zoning lookup records Laguna Woods as gated with private streets and lists a pool and spa. The ground climbs from 337 feet to 640 feet and every parcel drains to Salt Creek. The 2025 fire hazard layer rates the entire 97.1 acres Very High, one of only a handful of boundaries in the city with no lower rating anywhere inside it. The Open Space Inventory covers 78.1 acres here across 21 parcels, 64.1 acres of that recorded as natural area rather than landscaped slope.
View available homes in Laguna WoodsHistory
How Laguna Woods was built
This Laguna Woods is a small gated community inside Laguna Niguel and has nothing to do with the separate city of the same name up the road. It holds 89 homes on 97 acres, and the proportion is the point: more than three quarters of the boundary, 77 of the 97 acres, is zoned open space rather than housing, and the 2025 fire hazard layer rates every acre of it Very High.
The Laguna Niguel Corporation bought in 1959 and had the Viennese architect Victor Gruen draw a 7,100 acre town plan in which parks and open space took nearly a third of the developable land, a proportion this boundary exceeds by a wide margin. AVCO Community Developers took over in 1971. The city's record puts the houses here between 1980 and 1988 with a median of 1983, on four streets, Laguna Woods Drive, Woodhaven Drive, Morning Wood Drive and Woodsong Drive.
By the Numbers
Laguna Woods by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Laguna Woods lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Laguna Woods
Capistrano Unified serves Laguna Woods. The district's locator was probed at five addresses inside the boundary and returned Moulton Elementary, Niguel Hills Middle and Dana Hills High at every one. The city's own elementary boundary layer agrees, placing the whole 97.1 acres in the Moulton attendance area.
9-12 · 1,725 students
6-8 · 693 students
K-5 · 538 students
FAQs
Common questions about Laguna Woods
How big is Laguna Woods?
Measured against the boundary the City of Laguna Niguel publishes, Laguna Woods covers 97.1 acres. The city's address layer records 89 addresses inside it and the parcel layer 109 parcels, at a median lot of 0.141 acres.
Why is Laguna Woods so large for so few homes?
Because most of it is not residential ground. The city's zoning layer gives 76.7 of the 97.1 acres to open space against 12.6 acres to Single Family District 3, and the Open Space Inventory covers 78.1 acres inside the boundary, 64.1 of them natural area.
Is Laguna Woods gated?
Yes. The city's HOA zoning lookup records Laguna Woods Homeowner Association as gated with private streets, and lists 88 units together with a pool and spa.
When was Laguna Woods built?
Its six tract maps were all recorded on one day, 30 January 1981, and every one of the 88 dated parcels inside the boundary was finished in the 1980s, running from 1980 to 1988 with 1985 the busiest year at 33.
Is Laguna Woods in a fire hazard zone?
Yes, all of it. The 2025 fire hazard severity layer rates the whole 97.1 acres Very High, with no acreage inside the boundary at any lower rating.