Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Calexico, CA

Calexico is a city in Imperial County whose name is a portmanteau of "California" and "Mexico," while the much larger city directly across the border, Mexicali — the capital of Baja California — is the reverse portmanteau of "Mexico" and "California."

Calexico began in 1899 as a tent city of the Imperial Land Company and was incorporated on April 16, 1908.

Calexico is nicknamed "The International Gateway City" and sits directly on the U.S.-Mexico border in the Imperial Valley, economically intertwined with Mexicali, a city of more than one million people.

Calexico had a population of 38,633 at the 2020 census, nearly unchanged from 38,572 in 2010.

Calexico had about 10,069 households in Census Bureau figures for 2020-2024, with a large average household size of 3.82 people.

Only about half of Calexico's occupied homes — 50.2% — are owner-occupied, a much lower rate than most California cities.

Calexico is home to SDSU Imperial Valley, the Imperial Valley branch campus of San Diego State University, which has served the region since 1959 and sits just six blocks from the Mexican border, with a second site in Brawley.

Calexico covers about 8.6 square miles of the flat, irrigated Imperial Valley, one of California's most productive agricultural regions.