Brea (/ˈbreɪə/;[7] Spanish for 'tar') is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States.

[10] The area was visited on July 29, 1769, by the Spanish Portolá expedition – the first Europeans to see inland parts of Alta California.

The party camped in Brea Canyon, near a large native village and a small pool of clean water.

[11] A historical marker dedicated to his visit stands in Brea Canyon just north of town.

The village of Olinda was founded in present-day Carbon Canyon at the beginning of the 19th century and many entrepreneurs came to the area searching for "black gold" (petroleum).

Baseball legend Walter Johnson grew up in Olinda at the start of the 20th century where he worked in the surrounding oil fields as a youth.

On January 19, 1911, the town's map was filed under the new name of Brea, from the Spanish language word for natural asphalt, also called bitumen, pitch or tar.

With a population of 752, Brea was incorporated on February 23, 1917, as the eighth official city of Orange County.

As oil production declined, some agricultural development took place, especially lemon and orange groves.

In the late 1990s, a 50-acre (200,000 m2) swath of downtown Brea centered on Brea Boulevard and Birch Street was heavily redeveloped into a shopping and entertainment area with movie theaters, sidewalk cafes, a live comedy club from The Improv chain, numerous shops and restaurants, and a weekly farmer's market.

Sunset magazine named Brea one of the five best suburbs to live in the Western United States in early 2006.

[14] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 12.1 square miles (31 km2).

It is bordered by unincorporated Orange County and Los Angeles County to the north and east, La Habra to the west, Fullerton to the southwest, Placentia to the south, Chino Hills to the northwest, and Yorba Linda to the southeast.

[22] Management of the city and coordination of city services is provided by:[23] In the California State Legislature, Brea is in the 29th Senate District, represented by Democrat Eloise Reyes, and in the 55th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Isaac Bryan.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Brea had a median household income of $82,055, with 5.6% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

Brea is traditionally a Republican stronghold at the presidential level; however, Democratic candidate Joe Biden carried the city in 2020.

[citation needed] According to the California Secretary of State, as of October 22, 2018, Brea has 24,775 registered voters.