Meiners Oaks is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

lying west of the city of Ojai in

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a County (United States), county located in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, Ca ...

, United States. The population was 3,571 at the 2010 census. For statistical purposes, the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

has defined Meiners Oaks as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP).

History

German native John Meiners had immigrated to America in 1848 and established a successful

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

operation in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. In the 1870s, he acquired the land that would become Meiners Oaks as payment for a debt. When a friend and business associate, Edward D. Holton, travelled through California and investigated the land, Meiners learned that he had acquired one of the largest

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

groves on flat ground in southern California. Upon arriving in person, Meiners also found the climate agreeable, and established a ranch. Several hundred acres, north of the oak grove, were used quite successfully to grow lemons, oranges, plums, apricots and apples, as well as oats, wheat, barley and more. Meiners lived on his ranch intermittently until his death in 1898.

Geography

Meiners Oaks is in the mid-northern section of the Ojai Valley, and is bordered by the community of Mira Monte to the south, and the City of Ojai to the east. Meiners Oaks is in the heart of the Ojai Valley, very close to the

Ventura River The Ventura River, in western Ventura County in southern California, United States, flows from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. The smallest of the three major rivers in Ventura County, it flows through the steeply sloped, narrow Ventura ...

, where there are several hiking trails. The community is north of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The census bureau definition of the area as a CDP may not precisely correspond to local understanding of the area with the same name.

Climate

The climate of Meiners Oaks is

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, characterized by hot, dry summers, at times exceeding , and mild, rainy winters, with lows at night falling below freezing at times. During dry spells with continental air, morning temperatures, due to Ojai's valley location, can drop well below most of Southern California, with the record being on January 6 and 7 of 1913. On the other hand, Meiners Oaks is far enough from the sea to minimize marine cooling, and very hot days can occur during summer, with the record being on June 16, 1917 – when it fell as low as in the morning due to clear skies and dry air. Typically for much of coastal southern California, most precipitation falls in the form of rain between the months of October and April, with intervening dry summers. As with all of Southern California, rain falls on few days, but when it does rain it is often extremely heavy: the record being on February 24, 1913, followed by on January 26, 1914. During the wettest month on record of January 1969, fell, with a whopping in eight days from January 19 to January 26. In contrast, the median annual rainfall for all years in Meiners Oaks is only around and in the driest "rain year" from July 2006 to June 2007, just fell in twelve months. The wettest "rain year" was from July 1997 to June 1998 with .

Demographics

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Meiners Oaks had a population of 3,911. The population density was . The racial makeup of Meiners Oaks was 67.7%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.5%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.5% Native American, 1.6% Asian, 0.3%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 12.6% from other races, and 15.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 29.7% of the population. The census reported that 100.0% of the population lived in households, 1 person (0.0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 1,461 households, out of which 30.6% included children under the age of 18, 47.0% were married-couple households, 9.0% were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 26.1% had a female householder with no partner present, and 17.9% had a male householder with no partner present. 25.1% of households were one person, and 15.7% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.68. There were 966

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(66.1% of all households). The age distribution was 20.5% under the age of 18, 6.6% aged 18 to 24, 23.7% aged 25 to 44, 26.9% aged 45 to 64, and 22.3% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 44.3years. For every 100 females, there were 98.4 males. There were 1,556 housing units at an average density of , of which 1,461 (93.9%) were occupied. Of these, 66.9% were owner-occupied, and 33.1% were occupied by renters. In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $90,096, and the

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

was $54,551. About 10.8% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the poverty line.

2010

At the 2010 census Meiners Oaks had a population of 3,571. This reflects a decrease in population of 4.8%, as compared with the 2000 census. The population density was . The racial makeup of Meiners Oaks was 2,789 (78.1%) White, 14 (0.4%) African American, 58 (1.6%) Native American, 51 (1.4%) Asian, 1 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 549 (15.4%) from other races, and 109 (3.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1,068 persons (29.9%). The census reported that 3,565 people (99.8% of the population) lived in households, 6 (0.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 1,283 households, 460 (35.9%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 607 (47.3%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 178 (13.9%) had a female householder with no husband present, 81 (6.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 101 (7.9%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 11 (0.9%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 311 households (24.2%) were one person and 130 (10.1%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.78. There were 866 families (67.5% of households); the average family size was 3.24. The age distribution was 851 people (23.8%) under the age of 18, 300 people (8.4%) aged 18 to 24, 845 people (23.7%) aged 25 to 44, 1,116 people (31.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 459 people (12.9%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 40.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males. There were 1,396 housing units at an average density of 991.3 per square mile, of the occupied units 798 (62.2%) were owner-occupied and 485 (37.8%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.7%. 2,200 people (61.6% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 1,365 people (38.2%) lived in rental housing units.

Education

Schools in Meiners Oaks are served by the

Ojai Unified School District Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...

, including Meiners Oaks Elementary School. There are also several private schools located in Meiners Oaks.

Libraries

Public Libraries: Ventura County Library - 14 locations with three branches in the Ojai Valley: Meiners Oaks Library, Ojai Library, and Oak View Library.