Coachella, California
30 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Coachella Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92236. The Survey maps it on the Indio quadrangle. 41,941 people lived here at the 2020 count.
Then and now
1904 to 1984The same ground, surveyed 80 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresCoachella grew from 40,704 to 41,941 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 40,704 | |
| 2020 | 41,941 | +1,237 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 30 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1904 USGS Indio quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1941 USGS Coachella quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS Coachella quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Coachella quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Indio quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Indio quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Palm Springs quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
1,228 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,228 fires within 5 miles of Coachella between 1992 and 2020, burning about 14,426 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 122 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 696 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 142 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 122 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 95 |
| Debris and open burning | 65 |
| Smoking | 52 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 45 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Riverside Unit | AVE 54 COAC |
| 9 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Riverside Unit | AIRPORT |
| 8 September 1995 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL |
| 7 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | 57 |
| 7 September 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL-TREE FIRE |
| 6 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | FANTASY SPRINGS CASINO IN |
| 5 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | AVE 47 / TYLER ST |
| 5 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | GOLF CENTER 2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Coachella: 1 prospect, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Garnet, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palm Desert Rock and Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sunny Day Mine | Garnet | Prospect |
Storms near this place
9 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Coachella in 9 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 4 flash flood, 3 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 wildfire. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2005 | Flash Flood | Coachella | $40,000 | no account filed |
| January 2024 | Flood | Coachella | - | Flooding and mud debris from construction east of this location were observed. |
| August 2023 | Flash Flood | Coachella | - | Two vehicles were stuck in rushing water on Dillon Road and Landfill Road. |
| September 2023 | Flash Flood | Coachella | - | CalFire Riverside shared a video of several vehicles stranded in water 1 to 2 feet deep at 52nd Avenue and Education Way. One occupant was rescued. |
| September 2023 | Flash Flood | Coachella | - | Crews at Empire Polo Field reported that 50th Avenue was flooded after 1.89 inches of rain fell in 4 hours. |
| July 2021 | Flood | Coachella | - | Avenue 50 at Tyler Street closed at 1 pm due to water flowing over the road, per phone conversation with emergency manager. This is in the Whitewater Wash, a road designed to flood. |
| March 2020 | Flood | Coachella | - | California Highway Patrol reports flooding along I-10 west near Coachella. |
| May 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Coachella | - | A moist, unstable atmosphere set the stage for numerous thunderstorms throughout the desert areas beginning at daybreak. Gusty winds knocked down power poles, utility lines, and broke tree limbs. |
| May 2002 | Wildfire | Coachella | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandy Korner | 2.7 miles | 30 | |
| Thermal | 3.3 miles | 30 | |
| Indio | 3.5 miles | 30 | |
| Sunnyside Estates | 4.2 miles | 30 | |
| Vista Santa Rosa | 4.3 miles | 30 | |
| La Quinta | 7.3 miles | 29 | |
| Myoma (historical) | 7.4 miles | 28 | |
| Bermuda Dunes | 7.5 miles | 29 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Coachella | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q948219 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1652686. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.












