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Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, in southern California. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 189,594. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the southwest, by Seal Beach on the northwest, by Costa Mesa on the east, by Newport Beach on the southeast, by Westminster on the north, and by Fountain Valley on the northeast.

It is known for its long 14 km (8.5 miles) beach, mild climate, and excellent surfing. The waves are a unique natural effect caused by edge-diffraction of ocean swells by the island of Catalina, and waves from distant hurricanes. Because of the unique curve of the coastline at Huntington Beach, the local beach actually faces southwest. The beach is very brightly lit by the sun, and the sunlight pleasantly falls over the shoulders of surfers facing the beach. In summer, the southwest-facing beach often has very strong surf from hurricanes off the Mexican coast. Hurricanes rarely hit California because of the cold off-shore current.

Huntington Beach incorporated in 1909 under its first mayor, Ed Manning. Its original developer was the Huntington Beach Company, a real-estate development firm owned by Henry Huntington, a railroad magnate after whom the city is named. The Huntington Company is still a major land-owner in the city, and still owns most of the local mineral rights. The city's first high school, Huntington Beach High School was built in 1906. The school's team, the Oilers, are named after the city's original natural resource.

The climate is generally sunny, dry and cool, although evenings can be excessively damp. In the morning and evening, there are often strong breezes, 15 mph (25 kmh). Ocean water temperatures average 55 to 65 °F (10 to 15 °C). In the summer, temperatures rarely exceed 85 °F (25 °C). In the winter, temperatures rarely fall below 55 °F (10 °C), even on clear nights. There are about 10 inches (250 mm) of rain, almost all in mid-winter. Frost occurs only rarely on the coldest winter nights.

Huntington Harbour is suitable for light craft, and includes a dock, launching ramp, basic services and a few restaurants.

The harbor entrance is sometimes restricted by the US Navy, which loads ships with munitions at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station to the north of the main channel.

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According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 81.7 km² (31.6 mi²). 68.3 km² (26.4 mi²) of it is land and 13.4 km² (5.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 16.38% water.

The entire city of Huntington Beach lies in the 714 Area Code.

of 2000, there are 189,594 people, 73,657 households, and 47,729 families residing in the city. The population density is 2,773.9mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 79.22% White, 0.81% Black or African American, 0.65% Native American, 9.34% Asian, 0.24% Pacific Islander, 5.81% from other races, and 3.94% from two or more races. 14.66% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 73,657 households out of which 29.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.7% are married couples living together, 9.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 35.2% are non-families. 24.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.56 and the average family size is 3.08.

In the city the population is spread out with 22.2% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 34.9% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 98.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $64,824, and the median income for a family is $74,378. Males have a median income of $52,018 versus $38,046 for females. The per capita income for the city is $31,964. 6.6% of the population and 4.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 8.2% of those under the age of 18 and 4.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Many families spend 40% or more of their incomes on housing. Single family dwellings within two miles of the beach normally sell for $600,000 or more. Two bedroom apartments usually rent for $2,000 per month or more.

Huntington Beach is the site of the world surfing championships, held in the summer every year. The city is often referred to as "Surf City" because of this high profile event, its history, and culture of surfing. In 1985, the event erupted into a riot with police vehicles being overturned and burnt.

Huntington Beach is also a popular destination for kite surfing, and this sport can be viewed on the beach north-west of the pier.

The city is mentioned in the Beach Boys song "Surfin Safari."

The city also has the oldest Independence Day parade in the western United States. This is televised locally on the public access cable channel.

The Central Library is located in Central Park in a notable building designed by Richard Neutra, Dion Neutra and Mario Pei. It houses almost a half-million volumes, as well as a theater, gift shop and fountains. The library was founded as a Carnegie library in 1914, and has been continuously supported by the city and local activists, with new buildings and active branches at Banning, Oak View, Main Street, and Graham. The library has significant local historical materials and has a special genealogical reference collection. It is independent of the state and county library systems.

The downtown district includes an active art center, a colorful shopping district, youth hostel, and the International Surfing Museum. This district was also once the home of the famous restaurant and music club "The Golden Bear." In the late '60s and '70s it hosted many famous bands and acts.

Huntington Beach is also the home of Golden West College, which offers two-year associates of arts degrees, and transfer programs to state universities.

The public television station KOCE TV operates from the Golden West College campus, in conjunction with the Golden West College Media Arts program.

The northern and southern beaches (Bolsa Chica State Beach and Huntington State Beach, respectively) are state parks. Only the central beach (Huntington City Beach) is maintained by the city. Bolsa Chica State Beach is actually a sand bar fronting the Bolsa Bay and Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve. Camping and RVs are permitted at Bolsa Chica. Camping spaces for the 4th of July and the Surfing Championships must be reserved many months in advance.

Because of its land-use policies, Huntington Beach has the largest ratio of park area to person of any city in the United States. Almost all schools have playing fields arranged for public access as parks, with park-like amenities near major streets, and schools near the centers of blocks. Since Huntington Beach contains a major power generating station, the high-voltage rights-of-way are numerous, and have also been zoned as parks with walkways.

Huntington Beach also has a very large Central Park, located between Gothard and Edwards Streets to the east and west, and Slater and Ellis Avenues to the north and south. The park is vegetated with xeric (low water use) plants, and inhabited by native wildlife. Thick forests encircling the park are supplemented with Australian trees, particularly eucalyptus.

There are several attractions and well-known resorts in the city of Huntington Beach, CA.

olThe pier that goes from Main Street into the Pacific Ocean. At the end of the pier is a restaurant called Ruby's.

Between Downtown Huntington Beach and Huntington Harbour lies a vast marshy wetland, much of which is protected within the Bolsa Chica Wildlife Refuge. Large parts of Bolsa Chica are privately owned, or owned by the city and planned for development. As of 2001, there is an active political dispute between developers and local conservationists, with active local organizations on both sides. South of Downtown, the Talbert and Magnolia Marshes lie on a strip of undeveloped land parallel to Huntington State Beach.

Huntington Beach also sits above a large natural salt dome containing oil. Although the oil is mostly depleted, extraction continues at a slow rate, and still provides significant local income. There are several off-shore extraction facilities.

Huntington Beach has an off-shore oil terminus for the tankers that support the Alaska Pipeline. The terminus pipes run under Goldenwest Street to an inland oil storage facility at Gothard and Talbert Streets. This is the second largest oil storage facility on the West Coast of the U.S., exceeded only by the U.S. Navy's strategic oil reserve in Vallejo, California.

A great disadvantage of the oil industry is that the sand fleas and sand dollars have become rare on the beach, which is stained with tar sands. The beach is no longer hunted by birds.

Because of the proximity of oil, and nearby refineries, the local gas prices tend to be lower than anywhere else in Southern California.

Several hotels have been constructed on the inland side of Pacific Coast Highway (California Highway 1) within view of the beach, just southeast of the pier.

Huntington Beach contains a major installation of Boeing, formerly McDonnell-Douglas. A number of installations on the Boeing campus were originally constructed to service the Apollo Program, and some nearby telephone poles are still marked "Apollo Dedicated Mission Control Line."

Huntington Beach contains the administrative headquarters of Sea Launch, a commercial space vehicle launch enterprise whose largest stockholder is Boeing.

Huntington Beach contains a small industrial district in its northwest corner, near the borders with Westminster and Seal Beach.

The city often ranks among the top 10 safest cities for its size in terms of crime. However, Huntington Beach is also one of the most emergency-prone settled areas on the West Coast of the United States. This is a direct result of its attractive geographic features. It has an active Community Emergency Response Team training program, that trains citizens as FEMA-Certified Disaster Service Workers as a part of a free program run by the fire department's Office of Emergency Services.

The beach was naturally constructed by the Santa Ana River's delta. Some of the most attractive settled areas of Huntington Beach lie beneath the 100-year and 50-year flood zone. Some parts of the delta require powered pumping to remove water during heavy rains. Some parts do not drain effectively at all, and in these areas, local flooding is common during heavy rain.

In 1926, the Santa Ana River dam failed, and flash-flooded its entire delta. The southern oceanic terminus of this delta is now a settled area of Huntington Beach. The flood and dam-endangered areas are protected by a levee, but lenders require expensive flood insurance in the delta. The distant dam is still functional, but silting up, which is expected to reduce its storage volume, and therefore its effectiveness at flood-prevention.

Since it is a seaside city, Huntington Beach has had tsunami warnings, storm surge (its pier has been rebuilt three times), sewage spills, tornadoes and waterspouts. The cold offshore current prevents hurricanes.

Large fractions of the settled delta are in earthquake liquefaction zones above known active faults. Most of the local faults are named after city streets.

Many residents (and even city hall) live within sight and sound of active oil extraction and drilling operations. These occasionally spew oil, causing expensive clean-ups. Large parts of the developed land have been contaminated by heavy metals from the water separated from oil. The local oil has such extreme mercury contamination that metallic mercury is regularly drained from oil pipelines and equipment. Oil operations increase when the price of oil rises. Some oil fields have been approved for development. The worst-polluted areas have been reclaimed as parks. At least one Superfund site, too contaminated to be a park, is at the junction of Magnolia and Hamilton streets, near Edison High School.

The city's Emergency Operations Coordinator has said that, in a nuclear war, the city would probably be severely damaged in a first-strike against military targets. Because Huntington Beach adjoins Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, and the center stores munitions (widely believed to to include nuclear weapons), the Center is likely to be first-strike target for ground-burst thermonuclear weapons. Huntington Beach also includes a very large Boeing installation, which is an attractive strategic target.

Although Huntington Beach has a long and widely recognized history of surfing firsts, there is recent controversy with the northern California city of Santa Cruz over the moniker "Surf City, USA", with both cities claiming it.