Murrieta is a city in southwestern
Riverside County,
California,
United States. The population was 44,282 at the 2000 census. Population was estimated to be 100,173 in 2008,
[1] making it one of the fastest growing cities in the state. Largely residential in character, Murrieta is considered a
bedroom community, with large numbers of its residents
commuting to jobs in
San Diego and
Orange counties, and the more industrialized neighboring city of Temecula to the south.
Murrieta is bordered by Temecula to the South and the newly incorporated cities of Menifee and Wildomar to the North.
Murrieta should not be confused with Rancho Murieta, which is an unincorporated community in northern California, near Sacramento.
For most of its history, Murrieta was not heavily populated. Its gently rolling hills dotted with native trees such as the now-threatened Engelmann Oak encouraged a Spaniard named Esequial Murrieta to purchase 52,000 acres in the area, intending to bring his sheep raising business to California. Instead, he returned to Spain and turned the land over to his younger brother, Juan Murrieta (1844-1936), who brought 100,000 sheep to the valley in 1873.[2][3]
