[2] The 2010 United States census reported Pine Mountain Lake's population was 2,796.

The community also hosts an 18-hole championship golf course, golf shop, lake lodge, tennis, hiking, horseback riding, swimming, fishing, an airport, and close proximity to local shopping, medical, and government services.

PML is 26 miles (42 km) west of Yosemite National Park on State Highway 120.

It gets a light dusting of snow in the winter, and has warm summer days, a green spring, and colorful fall.

The community of Big Oak Flat was founded by James D. Savage, who began mining the area about 1851.

From approximately 1916 to 1924, Big Oak Flat served as a staging area and housing location for workers constructing the Hetch Hetchy Railroad which was required to build the O'Shaughnessy Dam on the Tuolumne River in the Hetch Hetchy Valley.

The Pine Mountain Lake subdivision was developed by Boise Cascade in the late 1960s with about 3,600 homesites averaging about one third to one half of an acre each.

The 2010 United States Census[5] reported that Pine Mountain Lake had a population of 2,796.

There were 3,048 housing units at an average density of 158.3 per square mile (61.1/km2), of which 1,117 (83.0%) were owner-occupied, and 229 (17.0%) were occupied by renters.

[7] The Pine Mountain Lake Airport is five miles (8 km) from the intersection of Ferretti Road and SR120.