Welcome to Imperial ...

The city of Imperial is located in Imperial County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Imperial, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1901.

The city was incorporated July 12, 1904.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Imperial has a population of 19,034 people<2> (see below for details).

Imperial is near sea level<3>.

Time Zone: Imperial lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Note: If you travel east from Imperial (for example, toward Yuma (AZ)), you will leave Pacific Time and cross into the Mountain Standard Time Zone (MST). In addition, you will be moving from an area that observes daylight saving time to one that does not.

Area codes for Imperial: (760) and (442)<4>

The ZIP code for Imperial: 92251<5>

Websites for Imperial ...

Official Website: www.imperial.ca.gov/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Imperial had an population of 19,034 people. This is an increase of 28.97% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 151.77% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Imperial had a population of 14,758 people (which is 8.46% of the total population of Imperial County). This makes Imperial the county's 4th most populous community.

The population of Imperial represents 0.04% of the total population of California (which has 37,253,956 people), making it the state's 324th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 14,758 people, the population of Imperial increased 95.21% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 7,560 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Imperial.

Communities Also Named Imperial ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 13 communities that are also named Imperial - they are located in Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania (2), Saskatchewan, Texas (2), Virginia and West Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Imperial.

Communities near Imperial ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Imperial.

• Calexico
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calexico
  • Calexico is located in Imperial County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 39,547 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Calexico <6>
• Brawley
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brawley
  • Brawley is located in Imperial County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 26,015 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Brawley <6>
• Calipatria
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calipatria
  • Calipatria is located in Imperial County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,781 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Calipatria <6>
• Holtville
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holtville
  • Holtville is located in Imperial County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,095 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Holtville <6>
• Westmorland
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westmorland
  • Westmorland is located in Imperial County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,231 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Westmorland <6>
• El Centro
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Centro
  • El Centro is located in Imperial County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 43,601 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for El Centro <6>
• Seeley
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seeley
  • Seeley is located in Imperial County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Seeley <6>
• Heber
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heber
  • Heber is located in Imperial County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Heber <6>
• Watermans Corner
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watermans Corner
  • Watermans Corner is located in Imperial County
• Alamorio
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alamorio have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alamorio
  • Alamorio is located in Imperial County

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We're compiling a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Imperial. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Imperial.

We have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Imperial. Our list includes 8 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Imperial.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Imperial ...

Looking for more information about Imperial? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Imperial, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Imperial.

Adding Imperial to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Imperial in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Imperial was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

From that list, the Imperial post office opened in 1901.

We also found Imperial mentioned on a train schedule titled Southern Pacific Railroad Time Tables (March 1908).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Imperial.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Imperial: www.imperial.ca.gov/

The official website for Imperial County: www.co.imperial.ca.us/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/