Imperial County, California

Imperial County, California
County
County of Imperial
Images, from top down, left to right: The fields of Imperial Valley with capital El Centro, Salton Sea, Imperial County Courthouse
Flag Seal
Interactive map of Imperial County
Location in the state of California
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Imperial Valley
Incorporated	August 7, 1907
Named after	Imperial Valley, which was named after the Imperial Land Company
County seat	El Centro
Largest community	El Centro (population) Salton City (area)
Government
• Type	Council–CEO
• Body	Board of Supervisors
• Chair	John Hawk
• Vice Chair	Martha Cardenas-Singh
• Board of Supervisors[1]	Supervisors Jesus Eduardo Escobar Martha Cardenas-Singh Margarita Peggy Price Ryan E. Kelley John Hawk
• Chief executive officer	Vacant
Area
• Total	4,482 sq mi (11,610 km2)
• Land	4,177 sq mi (10,820 km2)
• Water	305 sq mi (790 km2)
Highest elevation [2]	4,551 ft (1,387 m)
Lowest elevation [3]	−232 ft (−71 m)
Population  (April 1, 2020)[4]
• Total	179,702
• Estimate  (2025)[5]	186,499
• Density	40/sq mi (15/km2)
GDP [6]
• Total	$11.064 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC−8 (Pacific Time Zone)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (Pacific Daylight Time)
Area codes	442/760
FIPS code	06-025
GNIS feature ID	277277
Congressional district	25th
Website	imperialcounty.org

Imperial County is a county located on the southeast border of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 179,702, ranking as the least populous county in Southern California.^[4] The county seat and largest city is El Centro.^[7] Imperial is the most recent California county to be established, as it was created in 1907 out of the eastern half of San Diego County.

Imperial County is located in the far southeast of California, in the Imperial Valley. It borders San Diego County to the west, Riverside County to the north, the U.S. state of Arizona to the east and the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. It includes the El Centro metropolitan statistical area and is part of the Southern California border region, the smallest but most economically diverse region in the state.^[8]

Although this region is a desert, with high temperatures and low average rainfall of 3 inches (76 mm) per year,^[9] the economy is strongly based on agriculture. This is supported by irrigation, with water supplied wholly from the Colorado River via the All-American Canal.^[10]

The Imperial Valley straddles the border between the United States and Mexico. Imperial County is strongly influenced by Mexican culture. Approximately 85% of the county's population is Hispanic, with the vast majority being of Mexican origin. It has the highest proportion of Hispanics of any county in California. The remainder of the population is predominantly non-Hispanic white, in addition to smaller African American, Native American, and Asian minorities.