Coachella Valley - Communities and Population

Communities and Population

The Coachella Valley contains nine cities and various unincorporated communities.

The Coachella Valley is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country, due in part to its location in Riverside County, California, and to real estate booms from the 1970s (peaking in the 1990s) to the 2000s. State projections estimate that the valley's population will pass 600,000 by the year 2020 and 1.1 million by 2066. Demographers believe the total population already surpassed the 500,000 mark, plus 100,000 temporary seasonal residents known as "snowbirds" arriving to stay during the winter months (from the end of October to the end of April).

The community of Palm Springs sits at the northwest end of the valley. Unincorporated areas and towns include Cabazon in the San Gorgonio Pass, and Bermuda Dunes and Thousand Palms in the east end of the valley with Indio Hills, Sky Valley, North Palm Springs and Garnet along the northern rim along with Thermal, Valerie Jean, Vista Santa Rosa, Oasis and Mecca to the southeast. The native Cahuilla tribe represented in the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Torres-Martinez Band of Cahuilla Indians, and the Santa Rosa Indian Reservation south of Palm Desert, each have reservations in the area.

The Coachella Valley is subdivided into portions: the West Valley made of Palm Springs, Cathedral City and sometimes Cabazon, and formerly called Down Valley became Mid Valley for Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert and Indian Wells; and later East Valley for Indio, Coachella and unincorporated towns farther down, but now called South Valley which includes La Quinta, and nowadays, North Valley for Desert Hot Springs and unincorporated areas surrounding them.