IRVINE

Irvine is an affluent city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city; the Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s. Irvine borders Tustin to the north, Santa Ana to the northwest, Lake Forest to the east, Laguna Hills to the southeast, Costa Mesa to the west, and Newport Beach to the southwest. Irvine was chosen in 2008 by CNNMoney.com as the fourth-best place to live in the United States. In 2012, it was ranked sixth nationally. In September 2011, Businessweek listed Irvine as the fifth-best city in the United States. Irvine consistently ranks as the safest city in America with a population over 100,000. In 2014, Irvine was named the best-run city in the U.S. by 24/7 Wall Street. In March 2017, WalletHub listed Irvine as the third happiest place to live in the United States. In June 2017, Irvine was named tenth best City in America by Niche.com.

Every October, Irvine hosts the Irvine Global Village Festival to celebrate the diversity among the citizens of Irvine and Orange County. The festival consists of exhibits from local merchants, entertainment from diverse cultures, and sampling of foods from various regions of the world. Irvine has community parks and neighborhood parks. The community parks have public facilities located on each site. Neighborhood parks provide open space and some recreational amenities within the various villages of Irvine.

Most of Irvine is located in the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD). Irvine is also home to several higher education institutions including the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Concordia University, Irvine Valley College, the Orange County Center of the University of Southern California (USC), and campuses of California State University Fullerton (CSUF), University of La Verne, and Pepperdine University.