Indio (Spanish for "Indian") is a city in central Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. Indio is approximately east of Los Angeles, east of Palm Springs, and west of Blythe, California.
The population was 89,137 at the 2020 United States census, up from 76,036 at the 2010 census, an increase of 17%. Indio is the most populous city in the Coachella Valley, and was formerly referred to as the "Hub of the Valley," a Chamber of Commerce slogan used in the mid-twentieth century. Indio is now nicknamed the "City of Festivals," a reference to the numerous cultural events held in the city, most notably the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Festival.
Indio is the principal city of an urban area defined by the United States Census Bureau that is located in the Coachella Valley: the Indio–Palm Desert–Palm Springs CA urban area had a population of 361,075 as of the 2020 census, making it the 114th-most populous urban area in the United States.
History Indio is within the ancestral lands of the Desert Cahuilla Indians whose headquarters are in nearby Thermal, California.
Railroad line construction east out of Los Angeles began in 1873. Trains were operated to Colton on July 16, 1875, and to Indio (then known as Indian Wells) on May 29, 1876. Moving on eastward from Indio, the railroad reached the west bank of the Colorado River opposite Yuma on May 23, 1877. Back then, Yuma was a village known as Arizona City prior to 1873. There was a delay in getting military authority to lay tracks across the Yuma Indian reservation, and it was September that year before the bridge was completed so trains could operate into Yuma. The Southern Pacific Railroad was to have joined those of the Texas & Pacific, one of several railroads then holding, or seeking, federal authority to build lines from various sections of the country west to the Pacific Coast. But the rail-head of the T & P was at a standstill far off in Texas, so Southern Pacific continued building eastward.A Historical Sketch of the Southern Pacific 1869–1944 by Erle Heath Editor, The Southern Pacific "Bulletin"
The City of Indio came about because of the need for a halfway point for the Southern Pacific Railroad between Yuma, Arizona and Los Angeles, since the engines needed to be refilled with water. Since other areas had the name Indian Wells, Indio (after a Spanish variation of the word "Indian") was chosen instead. After the railroad's arrival in 1876, Indio began to grow. The first permanent building was the craftsman-style Southern Pacific Depot station and hotel. Southern Pacific tried to make life as comfortable as it could for their workers to keep them from leaving such a difficult area to live in at the time. The depot was at the center of all social life in the desert with a fancy dining room and hosting dances on Friday nights.Coachella Valley Water District: Coachella Valley's Golden Years.
While Indio started as a railroad town, it soon became an agricultural center. Onions, cotton, grapes, citrus and dates thrived in the arid climate due to the ingenuity of farmers finding various means of attaining water, first through artesian wells and later through the valley's branch of the All-American Canal. However, water also was a major problem for Indio and the city was flooded several times until the storm water canals were created throughout the Coachella Valley.Indio, by Pat Laflin
Businessmen and women found this last frontier land of the continental United States as an ideal place to start fresh. Dr. Harry Smiley and his wife Nell were early residents and stayed in Indio after their car broke down on the way to Los Angeles and became people of influence and helped shape the area. A. G. Tingman was an early store owner and first Postmaster of Indio, but also well known for taking advantage of miners as they headed to the mountains, selling at rather high prices. Later Dr. June Robertson McCarroll became a leading philanthropist and successful doctor in Indio. She was responsible along with the Indio Woman's Club for pressuring California into adopting the placing of white lines down the streets after she was nearly hit one too many times by passing vehicles. Even though these early founders of the city are considered pioneers, they still partook in the lifestyles of their friends living in such areas as Los Angeles.Periscope: The History of Indio, CVHSI publication
By the turn of the 20th century, Indio continued to grow. Schools were built, the La Casita hospital provided medical services, and families established roots. By 1920, about one to two thousand year-round residents lived in Indio, while it ballooned from 2,500 to 5,000 during the winter months and was advertised as a health resort for senior citizens and those with respiratory diseases and ailments in the rest of the 20th century.
Indio also served as the home of the USDA's Date Station, a place where leading scientific research was taking place on the fruit that would become a major part of the culture of Indio. The station started in 1907 and was responsible for the ability of local farmers to better understand this unique crop and make the Coachella Valley a leader in American date crops. This also created a tie to the Middle East that led to the theme for the County Fair with the Middle Eastern flair known as the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival .
By the 1920s nearby towns Coachella and Thermal remained larger than Indio, though Indio became known as the "Hub of the Valley" as a center of commerce. After a large fire burned much of Thermal and with a period of relative decline in Coachella, Indio once again grew. In 1930, Indio incorporated as a city. On September 6, 1930, storekeeper Fred Kohler received the first business license in Indio.
During the Second World War, Indio was also aided by the visiting soldiers from General George S. Patton's desert training grounds across southeastern California and headquartered in the remote station of Chiriaco Summit located 30 miles to the east.
From the middle to second half of the 20th century, Indio's development was fairly idle as populations began to move into the newer cities of Palm Desert and La Quinta. There is now a reversal in this trend where Indio experienced a population boom beginning in the 1980s, with the population doubling twice overCoachella Valley's Golden Years, 2nd edition. Coachella Valley Water District and currently has over 100,000 residents in the year 2025.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , 99.98% of which is land and 0.02% is water. The official elevation of Indio is below sea level; the city hall is below sea level, as the eastern half of the Coachella Valley drops as low as below sea level (the lakeshore of the Salton Sea is south of Indio). About north and east of Indio is the San Andreas Fault, a major tectonic plate boundary of the Pacific and North American plates.
The telephone area code is 760 but 442 has been added to the area as well. The city's ZIP codes are 92201 and 92203 north of Interstate 10.
Climate The climate of the Coachella Valley is influenced by the surrounding geography. High mountain ranges on three sides contribute to its unique and year-round warm climate, with some of warmest winters west of the Rocky Mountains. Indio has a warm winter/hot summer desert climate (Köppen: BWh): Its average annual high temperature is and average annual low is but summer highs above are common and sometimes exceed , while summer night lows often stay above . Monsoon related thunderstorms can occur in the summer months. In September 1939, a thunderstorm from the remains of a tropical storm, brought more than 6" of rain in less than 24 hours. Winters are warm with daytime highs often between . Under of annual precipitation are average, with over 348 days of sunshine per year. The hottest temperature ever recorded there was on July 6, 1905. The mean annual temperature is .
Nature and wildlife Indio is in the Colorado Desert region of the Sonoran Desert. It is adjacent to the geologic Salton Sink and within the site of historic Lake Cahuilla of the Lower Colorado River Valley. Indio is an official National Bird Sanctuary, because of the seasonal bird migration flight routes that cross the town en route to the Salton Sea. Geography of the Colorado Desert Fauna of the Colorado Desert Sonoran Desert wildflowers
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Indio city, California – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)7,9629,9839,58620,51221,47436.84%27.12%19.52%26.98%24.09%Black or African American alone (NH)9751,1581,1991,5211,8024.51%3.15%2.44%2.00%2.02%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)1041111922092840.48%0.30%0.39%0.27%0.32%Asian alone (NH)3403906311,4671,9881.57%1.05%1.28%1.93%2.23%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)1940480.04%0.05%0.05%Other Race alone (NH)1318348913570.61%0.23%0.10%0.12%0.40%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)xx4136561,578xx0.84%0.86%1.77%Hispanic or Latino (any race)12,09925,06837,02851,54061,60655.99%68.13%75.39%67.78%69.11%Total21,61136,79349,11676,036 89,137100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Indio had a population of 89,137. The population density was 2,682.7 people per square mile. The median age was 37.2 years. 25.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 92.7 males age 18 and over.
99.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.5% lived in rural areas.
There were 28,744 households in Indio, of which 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 52.4% were married-couple households, 14.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 19.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 34,638 housing units, of which 17.0% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.3%.
2023 ACS estimates
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 25.3% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 46.3% spoke only English at home, 50.0% spoke Spanish, 1.1% spoke other Indo-European languages, 1.9% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 0.7% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 75.4% were high school graduates and 21.1% had a bachelor's degree.
The median household income in 2023 was $78,709, and the per capita income was $35,231. About 9.1% of families and 11.6% of the population were below the poverty line.
2010 census The 2010 United States census reported that Indio had a population of 76,036. The population density was . The racial makeup of Indio was 46,735 (61.5%) White (27.0% Non-Hispanic White), 1,805 (2.4%) African American, 741 (1.0%) Native American, 1,693 (2.2%) Asian, 55 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 22,394 (29.5%) from other races, and 2,613 (3.4%) from two or more races. There were 51,540 Hispanic or Latino residents, of any race (67.8%).