Rancho Santa Fe is an unincorporated census-designated place located in San Diego County, California. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 3,252. It is the highest income community in the United States with at least 1,000 households.
Rancho Santa Fe has restrictions that set it apart from most other communities. There are no traffic signals, and there are no streets that are wider than two lanes. Many streets outside of the downtown area are lined with landscaping, although on side streets the landscaping of individual properties serves as ample ambient decor. Very few homes are visible from outside of their respective properties.
A downtown area exists. It is centered around the intersection of Linea del Cielo/Paseo Delicias and La Granada/Via de Santa Fe. It is the site of offices of financial firms, restaurants, and small stores. A library and a school are also located here. Outside of this area, Rancho Santa Fe is exclusively residential except for a number of golf courses and country clubs.
Rancho Santa Fe is and has been inhabited by many persons of note. Among them:
The Rancho Santa Fe Golf & Tennis Club extends on-approval membership to all Covenant residents—with some exceptions.
The notoriously strict policies of the Club include the denial of membership to residents of the condominiums constructed in the Village during the 1970's. The Club board's dislike of the condominium complexes extends to the blackballing of any current member who moves into one. Such strict regulations are not restricted to residency; they also apply to behavior on (and off) Club grounds.
One member of some 40 years standing had his privileges suspended for a month after he brought his Labrador retriever along for companionship during a solo round on the links.
The Covenant refers to the original planned community of Rancho Santa Fe. It includes the downtown area (see above), as planned by Lillian Rice, who also designed the library, civic center, elementary school, numerous private homes, and the only hotel within the Covenant, The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe.
The area offers some 45 miles of riding trails, available for use by Covenant residents, who take full advantage of these facilities as well as those availed of them by the Rancho Santa Fe Riding Club and Saddle Club. Aesthetics and architecture within the Covenant are protected by an Art Jury, a non-governmental organization which must approve any exterior alteration to any building, fence, sidewalk (although no sidewalks exist outside of the downtown area), or other structure.
Other trademarks of Covenant life are typically large lots and winding roads with simplistic Spanish names (usually just a noun with its corresponding article or adjective; e.g. Las Planideras, La Noria, Lago Lindo). Many properties have sewer connections, but there also are septic tanks on individual properties, as well as above-ground power lines. The Covenant lacks street lights, sidewalks, and traffic lights, as well as at-home mail delivery (each Rancho property-owner is assigned a post office box reflecting the original developers' goals of security and privacy; Covenant dwellers have desirable three-digit box numbers).
Despite what many would regard as drawbacks, properties in The Covenant, especially on the north side thereof, are higher-valued than corresponding properties elsewhere in Rancho Santa Fe. The Covenant is bordered on the north by Escondido Creek, on the south by the San Dieguito River, on the east by Camino del Norte, and on the west by El Camino Real.