More historic than 3% of U.S. towns · #817 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Moreno Valley was built recently: 0.7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1942 on, and the census since 1990.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1891.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Moreno Valley’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Moreno Valley is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #817 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Moreno Valley’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Moreno Valley ranks #384 on History.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Moreno Valley’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (31% of California towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Moreno Valley’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1984.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Moreno Valley’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Moreno Valley area was first inhabited 2,300 years ago. There are at least 200 prehistoric archaeological locations within the city. The majority of the sites are milling stations – where chaparral seed was the dominant milling activity. Rock art, consisting of pictographs, and petroglyphs are present – though most of the petroglyphs in Moreno Valley consist of boulders with "cupules", or cup-shaped holes pecked into them.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Moreno Valley. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1942Perris sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Moreno Valley.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewMarch Air Force Base, March Field, Gymnasium, DeKay Avenue
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Moreno Valley’s page.
In 1984, according to Wikidata. Moreno Valley’s post office opened in 1891, and the census of 1990 counted 118,779 people here.
How does Moreno Valley rank for history?
Moreno Valley is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #817 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Moreno Valley?
0.7% of Moreno Valley’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1988.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the Library of Congress (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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