Tecate is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the Mountain Empire area of central southeastern

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

. It is adjacent to (directly north of) the

Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...

and the Mexican city of

Tecate Tecate () is a city in Tecate Municipality, Baja California. It is across the Mexico–United States border, Mexico–US border from Tecate, California. As of 2019, the city had a population of 108,860 inhabitants, while the metropolitan area ha ...

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

; it is affectionately nicknamed ''Tecatito'' (or "Little Tecate") on account of its smaller size compared with the Mexican city. The community is best-known for the Tecate Port of Entry and nearby Tecate Peak. This area of San Diego County is somewhat desolate and rugged, located roughly an hour’s drive from downtown San Diego.

References

Unincorporated communities in San Diego County, California Mountain Empire (San Diego County) Unincorporated communities in California {{SanDiegoCountyCA-geo-stub