Despite its massive population, Orange County has a total area of 2,455 km² which makes it the smallest county in all of Southern California. Four Hundred and Eleven of those square kilometers are also made up of water. The county is bordered on the north by Los Angeles County, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by Riverside County, on the northeast by San Bernardino County, and on the south by San Diego County. The most northern part of the county sits on the coastal plains of the Los Angeles Basin. The southern half sits on the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains.

The majority of the population of Orange County reside in one of two shallow coastal valleys that are in the basin. These two shallow coastal basins are: the Santa Ana Valley and the Saddleback Valley.

The cities in Orange County are connected by a network of freeways. Residents of Orange County typically call these freeways by their route number rather than their formal name. One of the most important Orange County roadways is the Santa Ana Freeway, or Interstate 5, which runs north-south bisecting the length of the county. It is so important as it connects with another key north-south road, the San Diego Freeway. Orange County is often divided into "North County" and "South County" by the residents. This idea is opposed to an East-West ision characterized by coastal and inland cities. There is no actual geographical division of North and South County.
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