Mountain Center is an unincorporated community and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

in the

San Jacinto Mountains The San Jacinto Mountains (''Avii Hanupach''Munro, P., et al. ''A Mojave Dictionary''. Los Angeles: UCLA. 1992. in Mojave) are a mountain range in Riverside County, located east of Los Angeles in southern California in the United States. The mou ...

, within western central

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Unit ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Geography

It lies centered on the junction of State Route 74 and State Route 243 in the southern division of

San Bernardino National Forest The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States National Forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernard ...

. Mountain Center lies just north of

Lake Hemet Lake Hemet is a water storage reservoir located in the San Jacinto Mountains in Mountain Center, Riverside County, California,"Lake Hemet". The California Parks Company. Retrieved October 15, 2017. http://lakehemetrecreation.com/ with a capacity ...

, midway between

Hemet Hemet is a city in the San Jacinto Valley in Riverside County, California. It covers a total area of , about half of the valley, which it shares with the neighboring city of San Jacinto. The population was 89,833 at the 2020 census. The foundi ...

and

Palm Desert Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has been ...

, just south of the town of Idyllwild, and it is southeast of the city of

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Riverside County. Its elevation is . Although Mountain Center is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, with the ZIP code of 92561. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the CDP covers an area of , 99.91% of it land, and 0.09% of it water.

is the only major body of water in Mountain Center. The

Mountain Fire The Mountain Fire was a wildfire in July, 2013 in Mountain Center, Riverside County, California, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. It burned primarily in the San Jacinto Mountains in the San Bernardino National Forest. It started on July 15, 2 ...

and the Cranston Fire burn scars remain visible in the community.

Demographics

At the 2010 census Mountain Center had a population of 63. The population density was . The racial makeup of Mountain Center was 60 (95%) White, 0 (0%) African American, 1 (1%) Native American, 1 (1%) Asian, 0 (0%) Pacific Islander, 0 (0%) from other races, and 1 (1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15 people (24%). The whole population lived in households, no one lived in non-institutionalized group quarters and no one was institutionalized. There were 36 households, 5 (14%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13 (36%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3 (8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 0 (0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 0 (0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 0 (0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 19 households (53%) were one person and 6 (17%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 1.75. There were 16 families (44% of households); the average family size was 2.56. The age distribution was 12 people (19%) under the age of 18, 0 people (0%) aged 18 to 24, 8 people (13%) aged 25 to 44, 30 people (48%) aged 45 to 64, and 13 people (21%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 53.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 75.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 70.0 males. There were 58 housing units at an average density of 30.8 per square mile, of the occupied units 25 (69%) were owner-occupied and 11 (31%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 29%; the rental vacancy rate was 27%. 40 people (64% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 23 people (37%) lived in rental housing units.

Government

Federal: *In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, Mountain Center is in . *In the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, California is represented by Democrats

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...

and

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla ( ; born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Padilla served as the 30th secretary of state of California from 2015 ...

. State: *In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...

, Mountain Center is in the 28th Senate District, represented by

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Melissa Melendez Melissa Ann Melendez (maiden name, née Schneider; born February 17, 1968) is an American politician who served in the California State Senate. She is a California Republican Party, Republican that represented the California's 28th State Senate ...

, and in . Local: *In the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, Mountain Center is in the Third District, represented by Chuck Washington. *In the jurisdiction of the

Riverside County Sheriff's Department The Riverside County Sheriff's Department (RCSD or RSD), also known as the Riverside Sheriff's Office (RSO), is a law enforcement agency in Riverside County, in the U.S. state of California. Overseen by an elected sheriff-coroner, the department ...

, with Sheriff Chad Bianco. *Fire service is provided by Riverside County Fire (

CalFire The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is the fire department of the California Natural Resources Agency in the U.S. state of California. It is responsible for fire protection in various areas under state responsibi ...

) *

Emergency medical service Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...

is provided by

American Medical Response American Medical Response, Inc. (AMR) is a medical transportation company in the United States that provides and manages community-based medical transportation services, including emergency (911), non-emergency and managed transportation, rotary ...

(AMR); however, the

Idyllwild Fire Protection District The Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) provides firefighting, rescue, emergency medical services, and ambulance transport services for the Unincorporated area, unincorporated communities of Idyllwild and Fern Valley, in Southern California ...

is often the

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

emergency medical service under mutual aid due to its being in closer proximity than AMR.

Transportation

Forest Folk, using a grant from the

Riverside County Transportation Commission The Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) is the County Transportation Commission (a subdivision of the six-county Southern California Association of Governments metropolitan planning organization) for Riverside County, California, ...

, operates the Idyllwild Shuttle, which provides door-to-door service.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Riverside County, California San Jacinto Mountains San Bernardino National Forest Census-designated places in California

Geography

Demographics

Government

Transportation

See also

References