Moorpark is a city in Ventura County, Southern California, in the Simi Valley area east of Thousand Oaks and northwest of the San Fernando Valley. Founded in 1900, it spent most of the twentieth century as a small agricultural community, with citrus, walnuts, and avocados among its signature crops. Its population was 36,284 at the 2020 census. The city's growth accelerated sharply in the late twentieth century, when it expanded from just over 4,000 residents in 1980 to more than 25,000 by 1990. That transformation turned Moorpark into a family-oriented bedroom community, with residential subdivisions filling the valley while citrus groves and open hillsides remained at its edges. The agricultural character has not disappeared entirely, and the surrounding ranches and hillsides still shape the city's identity. Education anchors community life. The Moorpark Unified School District operates the city's public schools, and Moorpark College, a community college with a noted observatory, serves the broader region. Recreation includes Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park, a 3,000-acre wilderness area with 12.5 miles of trails for hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers, along with neighborhood parks such as Tierra Rejada Park. Transportation centers on State Route 118, the Ronald Reagan Freeway, which runs from Moorpark toward the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles, and the Moorpark Metrolink station on the Ventura County Line offers commuter rail for those traveling toward Los Angeles or elsewhere in the county. Ventura County Transportation Commission buses connect Moorpark with Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. The result is a Ventura County community that pairs open space and a small-town feel with practical access to the larger Southern California region.