Riverside County, California

Riverside County is a county in California, United States, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.
It had a population of 2,418,185 at the 2020 census, an estimated 2,544,916 by 2025, and covers
7,207 square miles of land (18,670 km2), 7,303 square miles total, centred near 33°44′N 115°59′W.

Riverside is the county seat and the county’s second-largest city; its postal code is 92501.
The county holds 28 incorporated cities and dozens of unincorporated communities across
no civil townships — California abolished townships as a unit of government decades ago
— and it runs on Pacific Time. Its FIPS code is 06065.

Towns & Villages in Riverside County

Riverside County has 28 incorporated cities, ranging from Riverside (314,998) down to
Indian Wells (4,757). Beyond those, the county counts 59 census-designated places (CDPs) —
unincorporated communities with a governed boundary but no city hall of their own — plus
scores of smaller mobile-home parks and crossroads that never reach CDP status. The tables below
list every incorporated city, then the 25 largest CDPs by population.

Two names on this list are easy to mix up. Indian Wells and Indio both sit in the Coachella
Valley and both start with “Indi”, but Indian Wells is a small resort city of under
5,000 while Indio, ten miles east, is the valley’s largest city. Palm Desert and Desert
Hot Springs are also frequently confused — the first sits mid-valley near Palm Springs,
the second is a separate spa town 15 miles to the northwest.

The 25 largest census-designated places, by 2010 census population — the most recent
year the Census Bureau published CDP-level figures for this group before several were annexed
or restructured:

Another 34 smaller CDPs round out the list, among them Idyllwild-Pine Cove and Cabazon in the
San Jacinto and San Gorgonio passes, Anza and Aguanga on the county’s southern grasslands,
and Thermal and North Shore along the Salton Sea — none over 4,000 residents at the 2010
count.

ZIP Codes

Riverside County spans well over 60 ZIP codes across three regions. The western county runs
92501–92509 for Riverside, 92879–92883 for Corona, and 92551–92557 for Moreno
Valley. Southwest county cities use 92562–92592 (Murrieta, Temecula, Wildomar, Menifee,
Lake Elsinore). The Coachella Valley runs 92201–92276, covering Indio, Palm Springs, Palm
Desert, La Quinta, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Coachella and Desert Hot
Springs. Blythe, isolated on the Colorado River 100 miles east of Indio, uses 92225–92226
on its own.

Most CDPs share a ZIP with their nearest incorporated city rather than carrying one of their
own — Rubidoux, Mira Loma, Glen Avon and Pedley all use Jurupa Valley’s 92509,
92505 and 92860 range, and Mecca, Oasis and Thermal share 92254 with the eastern Coachella
Valley’s shared post office.

Geography

Riverside County stretches about 180 miles east to west, from the Santa Ana Mountains on the
Orange County line to the Colorado River on the Arizona border. Of its 7,303 square miles, 7,207
are land and 96 are water, about 1.3 percent, mostly the Riverside County portion of the Salton
Sea and a string of reservoirs including Lake Perris, Diamond Valley Lake and Lake Mathews. The
county runs through three distinct landscapes: chaparral-covered hills in the west, the low
desert of the Coachella Valley in the center, and the open Colorado Desert and Joshua Tree
country to the east — the county holds most of Joshua Tree National Park.

San Bernardino County borders Riverside to the north, Orange County to the west, San Diego
County to the southwest, Imperial County to the southeast, and La Paz County, Arizona, across
the Colorado River to the east. San
Bernardino County, Orange
County, San Diego County and
Imperial County each have their own
Towns & Villages page; La Paz County lies outside California and is not covered on this
site.

Demographics

Riverside County had a population of 2,418,185 at the 2020 census, the fourth-highest count
of any California county, and the latest estimate puts it near 2,544,916. Riverside and Moreno
Valley are the two largest cities, together holding more than a fifth of the county’s
population. Median household income runs $93,074, below California’s statewide figure of
$95,521. Population density works out to roughly 336 people per square mile of land, low for a
county this populous because most of its eastern two-thirds is sparsely settled desert.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector at about
142,000 workers, followed by retail trade at 136,000 and construction at 102,000. Riverside
County government itself is the single largest employer in the city of Riverside, with about
24,400 workers, followed by March Air Reserve Base at 9,750 and the University of California,
Riverside at 8,831. The Coachella Valley’s economy leans on tourism and agriculture —
the valley grows nearly 95 percent of the nation’s dates, centered around Coachella,
Mecca and Thermal. The county’s biggest annual event is the Coachella Valley Music and
Arts Festival, held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio each April, alongside the older Riverside
County Fair & National Date Festival in Indio every February.

History

The California legislature created Riverside County on 9 May 1893, carving it out of San
Bernardino and San Diego counties. The county took its name from the city of Riverside, which
was itself named for its position beside the Santa Ana River. Riverside became the birthplace
of California’s citrus industry in 1873, when Eliza Tibbets planted two Brazilian navel
orange trees that became the parent stock for the state’s entire navel orange crop; by
1895 Riverside was, per capita, the richest city in the United States. The Coachella Valley
side of the county developed later around irrigation from the All-American Canal and the
Colorado River, and the Cahuilla people, the region’s original inhabitants, still hold
several reservations across the county, including Agua Caliente, Torres Martinez and Cabazon.

Getting There

Interstate 10 crosses the county west to east through Beaumont, Banning, the Coachella
Valley and on to Blythe. Interstate 15 runs north–south through Corona, Lake Elsinore,
Murrieta and Temecula, and Interstate 215 branches off it through Perris and Riverside. State
Routes 60, 91, 74, 79 and 111 also cross the county, the last running the length of the
Coachella Valley.

• Los Angeles — about 50 miles northwest of Riverside
• San Diego — about 60 miles south of Temecula
• Palm Springs — about 55 miles east of Riverside
• Blythe — about 100 miles east of Indio

Palm Springs International Airport is the county’s main commercial airport, serving
the Coachella Valley. Riverside Municipal Airport and March Air Reserve Base, which also hosts
an inland cargo port, handle general aviation and military traffic. Amtrak’s Sunset
Limited stops at the Indio station three days a week; Metrolink commuter trains and Amtrak
Thruway motorcoach connect Riverside, Corona and Perris to Los Angeles Union Station.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Riverside County located?
It sits in Southern California’s Inland Empire, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles,
bordered by San Bernardino, Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties, and by Arizona’s La
Paz County across the Colorado River.

What is the population of Riverside County?
2,418,185 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 2,544,916.

How big is Riverside County?
7,303 square miles (18,910 km2) total, of which 7,207 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Riverside County?
Riverside, founded in the early 1870s and the birthplace of California’s citrus
industry, is the county seat.

How many cities are in Riverside County?
28 incorporated cities, from Riverside (314,998) down to Indian Wells (4,757), plus 59
census-designated places and dozens of smaller unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Riverside County use?
Over 60 codes across three clusters — 92501–92509 and 92551–92883 in the
west, 92562–92592 in the southwest, and 92201–92276 in the Coachella Valley, plus
Blythe’s own 92225–92226 in the far east.

What is Riverside County known for?
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, the Mission Inn and the origin of the
California navel orange in the city of Riverside, and Joshua Tree National Park in the county’s
eastern desert.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in California.