Indio

Sister cities

• Cádiz

History

Indio is within the ancestral lands of the Desert Cahuilla Indians whose headquarters are in nearby Thermal, California. Railroad line construction east out of Los Angeles began in 1873. Trains were operated to Colton on July 16, 1875, and to Indio (then known as Indian Wells) on May 29, 1876. Moving on eastward from Indio, the railroad reached the west bank of the Colorado River opposite Yuma on May 23, 1877. Back then, Yuma was a village known as Arizona City prior to 1873. There was a delay in getting military authority to lay tracks across the Yuma Indian reservation, and it was September that year before the bridge was completed so trains could operate into Yuma. The Southern Pacific Railroad was to have joined those of the Texas & Pacific, one of several railroads then holding, or seeking, federal authority to build lines from various sections of the country west to the Pacific Coast. But the rail-head of the T & P was at a standstill far off in Texas, so Southern Pacific continued building eastward. The City of Indio came about because of the need for a halfway point for the Southern Pacific Railroad between Yuma, Arizona and Los Angeles, since the engines needed to be refilled with water. Since other areas had the name Indian Wells, Indio (after a Spanish variation of the word "Indian") was chosen instead. After the railroad's arrival in 1876, Indio began to grow. The first permanent building was the craftsman-style Southern Pacific Depot station and hotel. Southern Pacific tried to make life as comfortable as it could for their workers to keep them from leaving such a difficult area to live in at the time. The depot was at the center of all social life in the desert with a fancy dining room and hosting dances on Friday nights. While Indio started as a…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , 99.98% of which is land and 0.02% is water. The mean annual temperature is . Indio is in the Colorado Desert region of the Sonoran Desert. It is adjacent to the geologic Salton Sink and within the site of historic Lake Cahuilla of the Lower Colorado River Valley. Indio is an official National Bird Sanctuary, because of the seasonal bird migration flight routes that cross the town en route to the Salton Sea. * Geography of the Colorado Desert * Fauna of the Colorado Desert * Sonoran Desert wildflowers

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Costa's Hummingbird

  Calypte costae (Bourcier, 1839) · Aves
  9,012
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  8,781
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  8,461
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,994
• Verdin

  Auriparus flaviceps (Sundevall, 1850) · Aves
  7,737
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,177
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  6,204
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,918

Largest nearby schools

• Coachella Valley High
  High · Thermal · 2,657 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• La Quinta High
  High · La Quinta · 2,500 students · 24.8:1 ratio
• Indio High
  High · Indio · 2,143 students · 25.5:1 ratio
• Palm Desert High
  High · Palm Desert · 2,050 students · 24.4:1 ratio
• Shadow Hills High
  High · Indio · 1,751 students · 22.7:1 ratio
• Palm Desert Charter Middle
  Middle · Palm Desert · 1,347 students · 27.5:1 ratio
• Imagine Schools Riverside County
  Elementary · Coachella · 1,312 students · 23.9:1 ratio
• John Glenn Middle School of International Studies
  Middle · Indio · 1,045 students · 23.8:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.77 — 2026-10-15
  3 km NNW of San Jacinto, CA
• M 2.68 — 2026-10-11
  33 km WNW of Desert Center, CA
• M 2.68 — 2026-10-11
  33 km WNW of Desert Center, CA
• M 2.71 — 2026-10-11
  4 km E of San Jacinto, CA
• M 2.6 — 2026-10-06
  4 km NNW of Big Bear City, CA
• M 3.08 — 2026-10-01
  20 km ESE of Anza, CA