What we know about Laguna Hills
Laguna Hills grew on part of Rancho Niguel, the land grant made in 1842. Lewis Moulton bought it in 1895 and enlarged it into a 22,000-acre ranch, which was subdivided in the early 1960s. Residents voted for cityhood on March 5, 1991, 86 percent in favor, and Laguna Hills became a city on December 20 of that year. It has grown twice since then: North Laguna Hills joined on July 1, 1996, and the 149-acre Westside on September 18, 2000.
The Census counts about 12,100 homes. Their median build year is 1980: 39 percent went up in the 1970s, 35 percent in the 1980s, and 48 percent are older than 1980. Fifty-five percent are detached houses, and owners live in 70 percent of the occupied homes. Most of that housing was finished before 1994, the cutoff year in California's water-saving fixture rule: a house completed on or before January 1 of that year has to have fixtures that save water, and its toilets may use 1.6 gallons a flush at most.
Which water district bills you depends on your street: El Toro Water District has part of Laguna Hills and Moulton Niguel Water District the rest. The water itself is the same imported supply, treated at Metropolitan's Diemer plant (236 mg/L of hardness on average in 2025) or at Baker, the plant in Lake Forest (293 mg/L). The sewer rules differ a little. El Toro takes no responsibility for the building lateral, inside or outside the house, and Moulton Niguel's standards generally leave the lateral with the customer as far as the wye fitting on the main.
Laguna Hills contracts its Building & Safety Division out to Charles Abbott Associates, and the City describes permit and inspection services as 100 percent online. Any application filed on or after January 1, 2026 is judged against the 2025 codes, the California Plumbing Code among them. On a water heater the inspector looks for two earthquake straps and a relief valve drained to a safe spot; on gas piping, a pressure test. We apply through the online system, request the inspection there and stay with the permit until it is closed.
Close to Laguna Hills are Laguna Woods, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Irvine, Lake Forest along with Mission Viejo. A call from any of them rings the same line as yours, with a person on it day and night, and the plumber for each sets out from Laguna Niguel. Whatever the address, the cause of the trouble is tracked down first, and the repair waits until you have seen its price on paper.
Laguna Hills ZIP codes on our map
- 92653





