Geographically, the county is desert. Most of Joshua Tree National Park is located in the county. Riverside County lies inland of Los Angeles, and south of San Bernardino. Large numbers of Los Angeles workers have moved to the county in recent years to take advantage of relatively affordable housing costs. Alongside neighboring San Bernardino County, it is one of the fastest growing parts of the Inland Empire. This spawned a wave of toll road construction in the area in the 1990s, starting with the addition of toll commuter lanes to the California State Route 91 freeway, the main traffic artery to the western metropolitan area. In addition, smaller, but significant, numbers of people have been moving into southern Riverside County from the San Diego metropolitan area. The towns of Temecula and Murrieta account for 20% of increase in population of Riverside County between 2000 and 2007.
Such famous golf resorts as Indian Wells, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs and Palm Desert are located in Riverside County. Indio is the center of an important date growing region.
Riverside County was created in 1893 from parts of San Bernardino County, California and San Diego County, California.
The county derives its name from the City of Riverside, California, christened when the upper canal of the Santa Ana River reached it in 1871.
As of the census² of 2000, there were 1,545,387 people, 506,218 households, and 372,576 families residing in the county. The population density was 214 people per square mile (83/km²). There were 584,674 housing units at an average density of 81 per square mile (31/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 65.58% White, 6.24% Black or African American, 1.18% Native American, 3.69% Asian, 0.25% Pacific Islander, 18.69% from other races, and 4.37% from two or more races. 36.21% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 67.2% spoke English and 27.7% Spanish as their first language.
In 2006 the county had 2,026,803 people, an increase of 31.2% since 2000. In 2005 45.8% of the population was non-Hispanic whites. The percentages of African Americans, Asians and Native Americans remained relatively similar. The percentage of Pacific Islanders had majorly risen to 0.4. Hispanics now constituted 41% of the population.
There were 506,218 households out of which 38.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.50% were married couples living together, 12.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.40% were non-families. 20.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.47.
In the county the population was spread out with 30.30% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 18.90% from 45 to 64, and 12.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $42,887, and the median income for a family was $48,409. Males had a median income of $38,639 versus $28,032 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,689. About 10.70% of families and 14.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.50% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.
Towns and Cities in Riverside County
Banning
Beaumont
Blythe
Calimesa
Canyon Lake
Cathedral City
Coachella
Corona
Desert Hot Springs
Hemet
Indian Wells
Indio
La Quinta
Lake Elsinore
Moreno Valley
Murrieta
Norco
Palm Desert
Palm Springs
Perris
Rancho Mirage
Riverside
San Jacinto
Temecula
Adjacent Counties
San Bernardino County, California- north
La Paz County, Arizona- east
Imperial County, California- south
San Diego County, California- south
Orange County, California- west
