About Imperial Beach

Imperial Beach is a residential beach city in San Diego County, California, with a population of 26,324 at the 2010 census. The city is the most southern beach city in Southern California and the West Coast of the United States. It is in the South Bay area of San Diego County, 14.1 miles south of downtown San Diego and 5 miles northwest of downtown Tijuana, Mexico.

Imperial Beach is located at 32°34′42″N 117°7′2″W (32.578255, -117.117111) making it the most southwesterly city in the continental United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.5 square miles (12 km2). 4.2 square miles (11 km2) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km2) of it (7.22%) is water. The city occupies the extreme southwest corner of the continental United States: bordered by Tijuana, Mexico to the south, Coronado, California and the San Diego Bay to the north, San Diego to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Imperial Beach is located in San Diego County, the fifth most-populous county in the United States and part of the San Diego Metropolitan Area, the 17th largest metropolitan area in the United States with over 3 million people. It is also part of the San Diego – Tijuana metropolitan area, the largest bi-national metropolitan area shared between the United States and Mexico with over 5 million people. Despite the large population surrounding the city, Imperial Beach maintains a small residential feel.

Founded in June 1887, the city takes its name from Imperial County, California, a desert climate 100 miles east. Farmers and landowners from the Imperial Valley came to the area in the late 1880s seeking cooler weather during summer months. In March 1887, over 2,000 laborers descended upon nearby Coronado, California to construct the Hotel del Coronado, the largest resort in the world at the time. A large amount of the workers stayed in Imperial Beach and some would later make it their permanent homestead. The city would incorporate in 1956, operating its own Mayor-council government providing city fire department service and policing by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

The city has a Mediterranean climate with summer temperatures often in the upper 70s and winter temperatures in the 60s. Because of the comfortable year round temperatures many homes in Imperial Beach are built without air conditioning. Imperial Beach often remains 10 degrees cooler than inland areas of San Diego County in the summer, and 10 degrees warmer in the winter. The city is mostly or partly sunny 323 days of the year, with the wettest months in winter. The Farmer's Almanac consistently ranks the area within the Top 10 Best Weather Cities in America. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography operates a weather reporting station at the middle of the Imperial Beach Pier for sky condition, temperature, humidity, pressure, wind and water temperature data.