Coto De Caza

Coto de Caza is a census-designated place and guard-gated private community in the unincorporated area of Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, California. The population was 13,057 at the 2000 census.

The town is a suburban planned community of about 4000 homes, and one of Orange County's oldest planned communities. The project began in 1970, when it was envisioned as a hunting lodge and was completed in 2000. Around the town there are still undeveloped lots available for purchase as well as two 18 hole golf courses. Currently there are two club houses, one considered the "old club" and the other the "new club." The new club harbors the facilities between the golf courses and the tennis club. The old club, located in the residential area known as "the Village," once held tennis guru and teacher Vic Braden, but after its numerous changes in ownership the club has become less attractive. The old club was also the home location for the Coto de Caza Youth Swim Team.

The community is the setting of the reality-based television show The Real Housewives of Orange County on Bravo.

Coto de Caza contains has commercial endevores, The Coto de Caza General Store, The Coto de Guest Lodges (a boutique hotel) and Merry Hill School. The whole community is guard gated. Residents shop five minutes away in Rancho Santa Maragarita or ten to twenty minutes away in Mission Viejo. Students in Coto de Caza reside in the Capistrano Unified School District and attend Wagonwheel, Las Flores Middle, and Tesoro High Schools.

The community is mainly middle class and upper middle class with a few scattered condos and townhomes. The most prestigious part is Los Ranchos Estates, which is the most exclusive part of the community, the most rural, and where prices are the highest. A select few of very wealthy residents reside in Los Ranchos. The majority of the community is tract homes and semi-custom homes, with collections of customs on the outskirts off the main streets. The community is good value in that large homes with large amounts of land can be purchased in Coto de Caza for less money than a similar home in the more costal and developed areas. Coto de Caza is twenty minutes from the 5 freeway and five minutes from the 241 tollroad to Irvine and then Riverside County.

"Coto de Caza" means "game preserve" in Portuguese and Spanish