- Feb 28, 2025
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In northern Orange County, California, is Garden Grove. 171,949 people were counted in 2020. State Route 22, the Garden Grove Freeway, runs east–west through the city. West Garden Grove is the western part of the city.
Many panhandles define Garden Grove's boundaries. West Garden Grove is west of Beach Boulevard and mostly in Stanton, with a small jurisdictional bridge connecting the two along Garden Grove Boulevard. Westminster's Ward Street to the west and Santa Ana's Euclid Street to the east form a small border with Fountain Valley in the town's southern panhandle. Cypress and Anaheim to the north, Orange to the east, Seal Beach and Los Alamitos to the west.
According to the US Census Bureau, the city covers 46.5 km2 (18.0 sq mi), 0.10% of which is water.
Garden Grove's Gem Theater and Festival Amphitheater are stage theaters. Shakespeare Orange County holds its summer Shakespeare Festival at the Festival Amphitheater. Both venues are owned by Garden Grove but operated by third parties. Damien Lorton and Nicole Cassesso of "One More Productions" run the Gem Theater. The Festival Amphitheater is managed by Shakespeare Orange County's producing artistic director, Thomas Bradac.
The Garden Grove Playhouse closed. It was run by the same nonprofit.
The Garden Grove Strawberry Festival, held over Memorial Day weekend, is one of the west's largest community festivals, drawing 250,000 people. It began in 1958 and celebrates the city's agricultural past, including growing chili peppers, oranges, walnuts, and strawberries. Carnival rides, food vendors, live music, and a celebrity parade are part of the festivities. The Miss Garden Grove Scholarship Program and other Garden Grove organizations participate in Memorial Day weekend festivities. In honor of Garden Grove's 50th anniversary, the city painted some fire hydrants with a strawberry design.
The California Secretary of State reports 72,768 registered voters in Garden Grove as of October 22, 2018. Of those, 26,604 (36.56%) are Democrats, 21,449 (29.48%) are Republicans, and 21,941 (30.15%) are independents.
Although Democrat Kamala Harris easily won California and Orange County in the 2016 United States Senate election, Democrat Loretta Sanchez easily won Garden Grove by a 67%-33% margin, her largest margin of victory in Orange County.
In the last three presidential elections, Garden Grove has voted for the Democratic candidate. In 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton won the city by 23 points. However, Joe Biden kept the city in the Democratic column by just over a point in 2020 due to Donald J. Trump's gains in Orange County's Vietnamese community.
Garden Grove, California, is in Orange County. Its 2023 population of 172,270 makes it California's 32nd largest city and the 164th largest in the US. Garden Grove's population has increased by 0.19% since the 2020 census, when it was 171,949. Over 18 miles, Garden Grove has 9,593 people per square mile.
Garden Grove has an average household income of $87,267 and a 15.45% poverty rate. The median house value is and the median rental cost is per month. Garden Grove's median age is 39, 37.7 for men and 40.3 for women.
Orange County's Garden Grove is 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Garden Grove ranks 9th among Greater Los Angeles' 24 cities and communities with populations over 100,000.