The County of Riverside

Riverside County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the United States. Located in Southern California, the county is named for the city of Riverside, which is its county seat.

Riverside County is included in the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as the Inland Empire included in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

Roughly rectangular, Riverside County covers 7,208 square miles (18,670 km2) in Southern California, spanning from the greater Los Angeles area to the Arizona border. Geographically, the western region of the county is chaparral with a Mediterranean climate, while the central and eastern regions of the county are predominantly desert or mountainous. Most of Joshua Tree National Park is located in the county. The desert resort cities of Indio, Coachella, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs are located in the Coachella Valley region of central-eastern Riverside County.

Between 2007 and 2011, large numbers of Los Angeles-area workers moved to the county to take advantage of more affordable housing. Along with neighboring San Bernardino County, it was one of the fastest-growing regions in the state prior to the recent changes in the regional economy. In addition, smaller, but significant, numbers of people have been moving into southwest Riverside County from the San Diego metropolitan area.