La Quinta, California
29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Cathedral City-Palm Desert census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92253. It stands on Bear Creek. The Survey maps it on the La Quinta quadrangle. 37,558 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 135 feet above sea level.
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 figuresLa Quinta grew from 37,467 to 37,558 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 | 37,467 | |
| 2020 | 37,558 | +91 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 29 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 Toro Peak quadrangle1:62500
- 1944 USGS Toro peak quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS La Quinta quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Palm Desert quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Palm Springs quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
472 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 472 fires within 5 miles of La Quinta between 1992 and 2020, burning about 569 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 39 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 | 241 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 73 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 52 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 39 |
| Smoking | 34 |
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Natural | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 9 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6 |
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 |
| 8 September 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Riverside Unit | AVENIDA MONTEZUMA LAQ |
| 8 September 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL |
| 7 September 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL-TREE FIRE |
| 7 September 2000 | Natural | under an acre | California Desert District | LOCAL FIRE |
| 6 September 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL |
| 5 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | ARAPAHOE CI INDW |
| 5 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | MONROE ST / AVE 53 |
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 La Quinta: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Riverside Co. Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
14 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names La Quinta in 14 storm reports between 2001 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind, 4 heavy rain, 3 flash flood, 1 debris flow. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2013 | Flash Flood | La Quinta | $120,000 | Significant water flow on Whitewater storm channel through la quinta was reported by the Coachella Valley Water District. The water was contained in channel, but flowed through some golf courses. Waist deep water was reported along some roadways, stalling and nearly submerging several vehicles. A driver noted that the flooding came on quickly, in about 20-20 minutes. |
| September 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Quinta | $100,000 | Thunderstorm wind gusts toppled at least 138 trees at "The Palms" golfcourse in La Quinta. One tree caused damage when it fell into a maintenance building. Other area golfcourses also reported downed trees. A building at Avenue 58 and Madison Street had its roof tiles blown off which resulted in some minor water damage to the interior. Nine utility poles were blown over and four transformers were lost as a result of the winds. At around the same time, nearby Thermal Airport reported a gust of 46 mph, but it is possible that winds were gusting to around 70 mph or greater in the La Quinta area. |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Quinta | $50,000 | no account filed |
| September 2024 | Funnel Cloud | La Quinta | - | Several photos and videos of a long lived extended funnel cloud moving north to south along the San Jacinto ridgeline, viewed from La Quinta. Convective showers and thunderstorms occurred over the mountains and a few moved into the valleys. Video showed clear rotation of the funnel. |
| August 2023 | Flood | La Quinta | - | Heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Hilary lead to flooding waters several feet deep at the La Quinta Resort and Club. |
| August 2022 | Heavy Rain | La Quinta | - | Toro Peak HPWREN site measured 1.11 inches of rain in 1 hour. |
| September 2022 | Heavy Rain | La Quinta | - | Mesonet station on Toro Peak via HPWREN reported 0.52 inch of rain in one hour. |
| July 2021 | Heavy Rain | La Quinta | - | CoCoRaHS station CA-RV-79 La Quinta 0.9 WNW reported 1.52 inch of heavy rain. |
| March 2020 | Debris Flow | La Quinta | - | Report of a mudslide near mile marker 74 on Highway 74 near Pinyon Pines. |
| July 2019 | Heavy Rain | La Quinta | - | Upper Bear Creek gage reported 2.4 inches of rainfall in 3 hours. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Quinta | - | A trained spotter reported a 61 MPH wind gust around 1650 PST near the southern part of La Quinta Cove. The storm also produced brief heavy rain and frequent lightning. |
| September 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Quinta | - | A trained spotter measured a 67 mph wind gust in La Quinta. This wind gust was the result of outflow from a thunderstorm nearly 30 miles to the southeast. |
| August 2005 | Flash Flood | La Quinta | - | Mud and rockslides reported along SR74 at Vista Point. |
| August 2004 | Flash Flood | La Quinta | - | A slow moving thunderstorm sent water rushing over Jefferson Street in La Quinta. The water in some spots was a little more than one foot deep. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Wells | 3.8 miles | 29 | |
| Sunnyside Estates | 4.2 miles | 30 | |
| Palm Desert | 5.3 miles | 29 | |
| Palm Desert Country | 5.3 miles | 29 | |
| Vista Santa Rosa | 5.5 miles | 30 | |
| Bermuda Dunes | 5.6 miles | 29 | |
| Cahuilla Hills | 5.9 miles | 31 | |
| Myoma (historical) | 6.3 miles | 28 |
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 La Quinta | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q983614 | 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 1660870. 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.











