French Valley

It is a family place. In 2020 the median age was 34.7, and 31.0% of residents were under 18. The census counted 9,665 households, and 54.2% of them had children under 18 living at home. Married couples made up 72.7% of all households, and 86.2% of occupied homes were owner-occupied. Nearly everyone, 99.0%, lived in an area the census counts as urban.

The 2023 median household income was estimated at $132,605, and the per capita income at $41,363.

French Valley Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport in southwestern Riverside County, on Highway 79 near Murrieta and Temecula. It covers 261 acres and has one paved runway, 6,000 by 75 feet. In the 12 months ending September 30, 2023, it logged 89,790 aircraft operations, an average of 246 a day. All of it was general aviation except for under 1% military. That year 257 aircraft were based there, most of them single-engine planes, along with 10 helicopters.

The Wings and Rotors Air Museum on the field has military displays, flyable helicopters and an F-4 Phantom II being restored to fly. Murrieta's article places the airport just east of the city limits, and Murrieta Hot Springs, an eastern neighborhood of that city, lies near it.

Lake Skinner, also called Skinner Reservoir, is a reservoir in western Riverside County, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Temecula, near the Temecula Valley Wine Country. It was created in 1973 when the Skinner Clearwell Dam, expanded in 1991, was built on Tucalota Creek. It holds 44,200 acre-feet, is fed by the Colorado River Aqueduct and the State Water Project, and supplies a filtration plant that provides treated water to 2.5 million people in Riverside and San Diego Counties. It is named for Robert A. Skinner, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from 1962 to 1967.

Riverside County Parks runs the recreation area, which has 1,400 acres of water and 300 acres of lakeside parkland, with 158 RV sites and 300 developed campsites. People sail, fish, swim in a separate swimming area, ride horses and hike there. It is the site of the annual Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival and the Solar Cup competition. The reservoir and the nearby Southwestern Riverside County Multi-Species Reserve host endangered birds, including Least Bell's vireo and the Southwestern willow flycatcher, which depend on willow habitat that beavers help maintain.

Winchester is a separate census-designated place in the Inland Empire region of Riverside County, and French Valley is among its neighbors. It was founded in 1886 in Pleasant Valley, then part of San Diego County, and named after Mrs. Amy Winchester, the widow of Horace Winchester. It covers 8.0 square miles and lies about 8 miles southwest of Hemet. The 2020 census counted 3,068 people there, well under a tenth of French Valley's total.

Winchester stayed largely rural for most of its history, then grew quickly during the housing construction boom of the early to mid 2000s. In 2022 Riverside County expanded the Winchester planning area to 42 square miles, reaching to the Temecula city limits. Winchester is in the Hemet Unified School District and is served by the Riverside Transit Agency.

Most of the area belongs to the Temecula Valley Unified School District. The northwestern part is served by the Murrieta Valley Unified School District in one section, and by the Menifee Union School District and Perris Union High School District in another. Elementary schools are Alamos, French Valley, Lisa J. Mails and Susan LaVorgna. Middle schools are Bella Vista and Dorothy McElhinney. Other schools include Harvest Hill STEAM Academy, Summit Academy and Temecula Preparatory School.

There is no public high school in French Valley. The closest are Chaparral High School for the Temecula district areas and Vista Murrieta High School for the Murrieta district areas.