Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of
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 ...
, located on the northwestern
Pacific Coast of Mexico
The Pacific Coast of Mexico or West Coast of Mexico stretches along the coasts of western Mexico at the Pacific Ocean and its Gulf of California, Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez).
Geography
Baja California peninsula
On the western Baja Califor ...
. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the
Tijuana Municipality
Tijuana Municipality is a municipality in the Mexican state of Baja California. Its municipal seat is located in the city of Tijuana. According to the 2020 census, the municipality had a population of 1,922,523. Montserrat Caballero of the MOR ...
, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most populous city in
northern Mexico
Northern Mexico ( ), commonly referred as , is an informal term for the northern cultural and geographical area in Mexico. Depending on the source, it contains some or all of the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua (state), ...
. It is just south of California and it has a close proximity to 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 ...
which is part of the
San Diego–Tijuana
San Diego–Tijuana is an international transborder agglomeration, straddling the border of the adjacent North America, North American coastal cities of San Diego, California, United States, and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The 2020 popula ...
metro area.
Tijuana is the
27th largest city in the
Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
and is the westernmost city in Mexico. As of 2024, the population of Tijuana has increased to 2,297,000, reflecting a growth of 1.63% since 2023. The city was
second-largest nationally with 1,810,645 inhabitants. The international metropolitan region was estimated at 5,158,459 in 2016,
making it the third-largest metropolitan area in
The Californias
The Californias (), occasionally known as the Three Californias or the Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican states of Baja California a ...
,
19th-largest metropolitan area in the Americas,
and the largest bi-national
conurbation
A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...
that is shared between US and Mexico. The city is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country and rated as a "High Sufficiency"
global city
A global city (also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center) is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that glo ...
by the
Globalization and World Cities Research Network
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a British think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leic ...
.
Tijuana traces its modern history to the arrival of
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
colonists in the 16th century who were mapping the coast of the
Californias. Following the division of the Californias after the
American Conquest of California, Tijuana found itself located on an international border, giving rise to a new economic and political structure. The city was incorporated on 11 July 1889 as urban development began. The city has served as a major tourist destination since the 1880s. Today, Tijuana is a dominant manufacturing center for North America, hosting facilities of many
multinational conglomerate companies. In the early 21st century, Tijuana has emerged as the medical device manufacturing capital of North America and is increasingly recognized as an important cultural Mecca for the border region of the Californias.
The city is the most visited border city in the world, sharing a border of about with its sister city
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
. More than fifty million people cross the border between these two cities every year.
Despite its popularity as a tourist destination, Tijuana is a hotbed of crime, especially
violent crime
A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful Force (law), force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, vio ...
, due to the extensive presence of organized crime and
Mexican cartels. It regularly ranks among the most violent cities by homicide rate. According to
Statista
Statista (styled in all lower case) is a German online platform that specializes in data gathering and visualization. In addition to publicly available third-party data, Statista also provides exclusive data via the platform, which is collect ...
in August 2023, Tijuana presently has the
second highest homicide rate in the world.
The
U.S. State Department maintains a travel advisory warning as of September 2023 relating to the city's "non-tourist areas". Incidents involving the murder or kidnapping of foreigners since the 2000s have also sparked travel fears and affected Tijuana's status among international tourists.
Name
The city's name comes from the
rancho that
Santiago Argüello Moraga established in 1829 on his Mexican land grant, naming it ''
Rancho Tía Juana''.
The first Spanish mission referred to the settlement variously as ''Rancho Tía Juana'', ''Tihuan'' and finally, ''Tijuana''. While the city was founded as "Tijuana" in 1889, "Tia Juana" remained the English-language name for the river, as well as a U.S. settlement that is now part of
San Ysidro, until approximately 1916.
The commonly accepted theory among historians is that ''Tía Juana'', as Argüello named his rancho, is derived from the word ("by the sea") in the
language of the Kumeyaay—the First Nations people of the San Diego-Tijuana region. Urban legend, on the other hand, states that ''Tía Juana'', which means "Aunt Jane" in Spanish, was a real person whose inn provided food and lodging to travelers. There is, however, no record of such an inn; in fact, the first building in the area was built by Argüello in any case, after naming his ranch Rancho Tía Juana.
In
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, Tijuana is often referred to as ''T.J.''
History
The land was originally inhabited by the
Kumeyaay
The Kumeyaay, also known as 'Iipai-Tiipai or by the historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Uni ...
, a tribe of
Yuman-speaking hunter-gatherers. Europeans arrived in 1542, when colonist
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (; 1497 – January 3, 1543) was a Portuguese maritime explorer best known for investigations of the west coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the first European to explore presen ...
toured the coastline of the area, which
Sebastián Vizcaíno
Sebastián Vizcaíno (c. 1548–1624) was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Baja California peninsula, the California coast and Asia.
Early career
Vizcaíno was born in ...
mapped in 1602. In 1769,
Juan Crespí
Juan Crespí, OFM (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Joan Crespí''; 1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of The Californias, Las Californias.
Biography
A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan ord ...
documented more details about the area that was later called the Valley of Tijuana.
19th century
Further settlement took place near the end of the mission era when
José María de Echeandía, governor of the Baja California and Alta California, awarded a large land grant to
Santiago Argüello in 1829. This large cattle ranch,
Rancho Tía Juana, covered . Although "Tia Juana" means "Aunt Jane" in Spanish, the name was actually an adaptation of the word 'Tihuan' or 'Tijuán' in the Kumeyaay language, the name of a nearby Kumeyaay settlement and whose meaning is disputed.
In 1848, as a result of the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
with the United States, Mexico lost Alta California. While the majority of the 1,000 Hispanic families living in Alta California stayed on the American side, some moved south to Tijuana to remain inside Mexico, which was now in Baja California as the division between the Californias moved north in between San Diego and Tijuana. Because of this Tijuana gained a different purpose on the international border. The area had been populated by ranchers, but Tijuana developed a new social economic structure which were farming and livestock grazing, plus as a transit area for prospectors.
Urban settlement began in 1889, when descendants of Santiago Argüello and
Augustín Olvera entered an agreement to begin developing the city of Tijuana. The date of the agreement, 11 July 1889, is recognized as the founding of the city. Tijuana saw its future in tourism from the beginning. From the late 19th century to the first few decades of the 20th century, the city attracted large numbers of Californians coming for trade and entertainment. The California land boom of the 1880s led to the first big wave of tourists, who were called "excursionists" and came looking for echoes of the famous novel ''
Ramona'' by
Helen Hunt Jackson
Helen Hunt Jackson (pen name, H.H.; born Helen Maria Fiske; October 15, 1830 – August 12, 1885) was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. She de ...
.
20th century
In 1911, during the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
, revolutionaries claiming loyalty to
Ricardo Flores Magón
Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón (; known as Ricardo Flores Magón; September 16, 1874 – November 21, 1922) was a Mexican anarchist and social reform activist. His brothers Enrique Flores Magón, Enrique and Jesús Flores Magón, Jesús were ...
took over the city for shortly over a month. Federal troops then arrived. Assisted by the "defensores de Tijuana", they routed the revolutionaries, who fled north and were promptly arrested by the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
.
The
Panama–California Exposition
The Panama–California Exposition was a World's fair, world exposition held in San Diego, California, between January 1, 1915, and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as t ...
of 1915 brought many visitors to the nearby California city of San Diego. Tijuana attracted these tourists with a ''Feria Típica Mexicana'' – Typical Mexican Fair. This included curio shops, regional food, thermal baths, horse racing and boxing.
The first professional race track opened in January 1916, just south of the border gate. It was almost immediately destroyed by the great "
Hatfield rainmaker" flood of 1916. Rebuilt in the general area, it ran horse races until the new
Agua Caliente track opened in 1929, several miles south and across the river on higher ground.
Legal drinking and gambling attracted U.S. nationals in the 1920s during
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
. The
Avenida Revolución area became the city's tourist center, with casinos and the Hotel Caesar's, birthplace of the
Caesar salad
A Caesar salad (also spelled Cesar, César and Cesare), also known as Caesar's salad, is a green salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with lemon juice (or lime juice), olive oil, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, Dijon ...
.
In 1925, the city by presidential decree changed its name to ''Ciudad Zaragoza'', but its name reverted to ''Tijuana'' in 1929.

In 1928, the
Agua Caliente Touristic Complex
Agua Caliente is a historic entertainment center and present-day district of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, at the southeastern end of the Centro (borough), ''Centro'' borough. The ''Agua Caliente Tourist Complex'' formed in the late 1920s alon ...
was opened, including hotel, spa, dog-track, private airport, golf course and gambling casino. A year later, the new Agua Caliente Racetrack joined the complex. During the eight years it operated, the Agua Caliente hotel, casino and spa achieved a near mythical status, with Hollywood stars and gangsters flying in and playing.
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...
was discovered there. Musical nightclub productions were broadcast over the radio. A singer known as "la Faraona" got shot in a love-triangle and gave birth to the myth of a beautiful lady ghost. Remnants of the Agua Caliente casino can be seen in the outdoor swimming pool and the "minarete" (actually a former incinerator chimney) nearby the southern end of Avenida Sanchez Taboada, on the grounds of what is now the Lázaro Cárdenas educational complex. A replica of the iconic bell tower (which once stood at the resort entrance) now stands at the beginning of Boulevard Agua Caliente, about two miles west of the old resort.
In 1935, President Cárdenas decreed an end to gambling and casinos in Baja California, and the Agua Caliente complex faltered, then closed. In 1939, it was reopened as a junior high school (now, Preparatoria Lázaro Cárdenas). The buildings themselves were torn down in the 1970s and replaced by modern scholastic architecture.
With increased tourism and a large number of Mexican citizens relocating to Tijuana, the city's population grew from 21,971 to 65,364 between 1940 and 1950. With the decline of nightlife and tourism in the 1950s, the city restructured its tourist industry, by promoting a more family-oriented scene. Tijuana developed a greater variety of attractions and activities to offer its visitors.
In 1965, the Mexican federal government launched the Border Industrialization Program to attract foreign investment. Tijuana and other border cities became attractive for foreign companies to open
maquiladoras (factories), and the Tijuana economy started to diversify. Manufacturing jobs attracted workers from other parts of Mexico and the city's population grew from less than half a million in 1980 to almost 1 million in 1985.
In 1972, work began on the first
concrete channeling of the
Tijuana River; previously the river would flood across a wide plain east and southeast of downtown, inundating an area of cardboard and metal shacks called ''Cartolandia'' (“Paperland”). The project removed the shacks and added 1.8 million sq. m. of usable land, on which the
Zona Río was built. With the 1981 opening of the
Plaza Río Tijuana mall and the 1982
Tijuana Cultural Center
The Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) is a cultural center in the Zona Río district of Tijuana, Mexico. The center opened 20 October 1982, and accommodates more than a million visitors per year.
Nowadays this iconic Tijuana institution has differ ...
(CECUT), Zona Río became the new commercial center of a modern Tijuana, and with its new boulevards with monument-filled ''glorietas'' (roundabouts), reminiscent of the grand
Paseo de la Reforma
Paseo de la Reforma (literally "Promenade of La Reforma, the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Maximilian of Mexico, Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig d ...
in Mexico City, the city created the new image and allure of a modern, large city, rather than just a border town focused on tourism and vice.
In 1994,
PRI presidential candidate
Luis Donaldo Colosio
Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta (; 10 February 1950 – 23 March 1994) was a Mexican politician, economist, and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) President of Mexico, presidential candidate, who was assassinated at a campaign rally in Tiju ...
was assassinated in Tijuana while making an appearance in the plaza of Lomas Taurinas, a neighborhood nestled in a valley near Centro. The shooter was caught and imprisoned, but doubts remain about who the mastermind might have been.
21st century
After
9/11
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, tighter US border controls resulted in hours-long waits to return to the US. The number of US visitors dropped sharply due to this factor, as well as subsequent drug violence.
Around 2008, thousands of Tijuana's elite bought houses in and moved to
Bonita and Eastlake in
Chula Vista, California
Chula Vista ( ; , ) is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. It is the second-most populous city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh-most populous city in Southern California ...
, to escape violence, kidnapping and other crimes taking place during that period. An article in ''
The Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...
'' reported that the emigration to
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...
has transformed the demographic and cultural character of some cities to a degree.
In recent years, Tijuana has become an important city of commerce and migration for Mexico and US. In spite of the violence and border crossing issues, the city has received a large number of tourists from US, China, Japan and the south of Mexico. Thanks to the realization of cultural and business festivals, the city has improved its image before the world, standing out as a competitive city for investment. Currently, the commercial and business sector is committed to the boom in the gastronomic industry, craft beer, entertainment, and real estate, as well as medical tourism, to attract visitors and investors.
Geography
Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, and consequently in
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, and the second-largest city in northern Mexico. Located about west of the state capital,
Mexicali
Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California. The city, which is the seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali, Cale ...
, the city is bordered to the north by the cities of
Imperial Beach
Imperial Beach is a beach city in San Diego County, California, United States, with a population of 26,137 as of the 2020 census. It is in the South Bay area of San Diego County, south of downtown San Diego and northwest of downtown Tiju ...
, and the San Diego neighborhoods of San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, California. To the southwest of the city is
Rosarito Beach
Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US–Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater San Diego� ...
, while to the south is unincorporated territory of Tijuana Municipality. The city is nestled among hills, canyons, and gullies. The central part of the city lies in a valley through which flows the channeled
Tijuana River.
Housing development in the Tijuana Hills has led to eradication of many seasonal mountain streams. This lack of natural drainage makes places within the city vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season. The varied terrain of Tijuana gives the city elevation extremes that range from sea level to . As
downtown Tijuana was built at the bottom of the river valley, the district is subject to seasonal flooding created by drain-off from the Tijuana Hills. During this time, east-bound portions of the Via Rapida (east–west highway) may be blocked off by the Tijuana Police due to hazardous conditions.
Tijuana is noted for its rough terrain, which includes many canyons, steep hills, and mesas. Large hills in Tijuana include the
Cerro Colorado and the Cerro de las Abejas.
The city is located near the terminus of the Tijuana River and within the Tijuana River Basin. The Tijuana River is an
intermittent river
Intermittent, temporary or seasonal rivers or streams cease to flow every year or at least twice every five years. Such rivers drain large arid and semi-arid areas, covering approximately a third of the Earth's surface. The extent of tempora ...
, long, on the Pacific coast of northern Baja California in Mexico and
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
in the United States. It drains an arid area along the California–Baja California border, flowing through Mexico for most of its course and then crossing the border for the last of its course where it forms an estuary that empties into the ocean.
Cityscape

The city's skyscraper history is relatively recent.
Some of the first
highrise building complexes constructed in the city were the twin towers of
Grand Hotel Tijuana
The Plaza Aguacaliente & Grand Hotel Tijuana (commonly known by locals as Las Torres) is a mixed-use high-rise building complex of twin skyscrapers in Tijuana, Mexico. With a height of 89.9 meters (295 feet) to the top floor, and 28 stories, th ...
.
Tijuana experienced a building boom that was brought to a halt by the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. . Among buildings that succumbed to the time period was the
Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico that would have been located in Playas and reached . Currently the tallest building, and soon to be the largest complex in footage,
New City Residential reaches . Overall, the city maintains 33 completed structures with other proposed and under-construction skyscrapers.
The Tijuana skyline is the fifth largest skyline in Mexico and is located in the Zona Rio and to a smaller extent, Playas de Tijuana. In the Zona Rio the buildings are concentrated on the Tijuana River, lined parallel to the river; and on the edges of the Tijuana Country Club. In Playas the high rises are currently focused on the coast. Recent construction on high rises has begun in the aforementioned areas, as buildings such as New City Residential and Grand Hotel Tijuana have been developed and taken prominent places in the skyline as the tallest buildings. From Tijuana's skyline the
San Diego skyline can also be seen, although the reverse is mostly not true on account of the high hills surrounding central Tijuana.
Boroughs
The municipality of Tijuana is divided into eight administrative boroughs, or ''Delegaciones''. The Tijuana metropolitan area occupies all of borough seats. The boroughs are in turn divided into
colonias or
ejido
An ''ejido'' (, from Latin ''exitum'') is an area of communal land used for agriculture in which community members have usufruct rights, which in Mexico is not held by the Mexican state. People awarded ejidos in the modern era farm them indiv ...
s. These boroughs offer administrative services such as
urban planning
Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...
,
civil registry
Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in diffe ...
, inspection, verification,
public works and community development and are served by a ''delegado''.
*
Centro
Centro may refer to:
Places Brazil
*Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...
– "Delegación Centro" includes the old downtown (Zona Centro), new business district (
Zona Río), red light district (
Zona Norte), and other adjacent neighborhoods ("zonas"). This is the historical midpoint of Tijuana; the municipal palace is located here as well as most of the tourist zones, such as
Avenida Revolución and the business district. The
Tijuana Cultural Center
The Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) is a cultural center in the Zona Río district of Tijuana, Mexico. The center opened 20 October 1982, and accommodates more than a million visitors per year.
Nowadays this iconic Tijuana institution has differ ...
(CECUT for CEntro CUltural de Tijuana) is located here as well as the Plaza Río Tijuana, until recently the largest mall in the state, within the
Zona Rio.
*
Cerro Colorado – The ''Cerro Colorado'' ("Red Hill") is located here and it is surrounded by houses. Because of its height many of the area's antennas for radio and television stations are located on its peak.
*
La Mesa – This is where the
Morelos Park, the largest public park in the city, is located, as well as the retail and transit hub
Cinco y Diez, Plaza Mundo Divertido, the new
Macroplaza and the
CETYS University.
*
Otay Centenario
Otay Centenario is a borough of the municipality of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico. It is the result of a merger between the former boroughs of Mesa de Otay and Centenario which took place on January 1, 2014.
The borough is located east of ...
– This borough was created in 2014 by merging Mesa de Otay and Centenario boroughs. In this borough sits the
tijuana International Airport
Tijuana International Airport (); officially ''Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez'' (General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport) , is an international airport located northeast of downtown Tijuana, Baja Califo ...
. The
Tijuana campus of the
Autonomous University of Baja California and the Technologico are also located here as well as many
maquiladora
A (), or (), is a factory that is largely duty (economics), duty free and tariff free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present thro ...
s. This is the borough with the largest number of factories and
maquiladora
A (), or (), is a factory that is largely duty (economics), duty free and tariff free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present thro ...
s. Its largest colony is ''Ciudad Industrial'' ("Industrial City"). This delegacion contains the
Otay Mesa entry to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and the
Friendship Park (Parque de la amistad).
*
Playas de Tijuana
Playas de Tijuana ( Spanish for "beaches of Tijuana") is the westernmost borough of the municipality of Tijuana, Baja California, stretching from the United States border in the north to Rosarito Beach Municipality in the south. The Bullring by ...
– This is the westernmost borough of the city bordered by the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
on the west and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
border on the north. This is where the beaches of Tijuana are located (hence the name) and it is also one of the two exits to the south towards
Rosarito and
Ensenada.
*
La Presa – literally "'the dam'", this is the largest borough in size and the
Abelardo L. Rodríguez Dam is located within its limits, hence its name. The new
Corredor Tijuana-Rosarito 2000
Corredor Tijuana-Rosarito 2000, also Bulevar 2000, Boulevard 2000, Corredor 2000, is a freeway in northwestern Baja California connecting the Mesa de Otay area of eastern Tijuana with Rosarito Beach. long, it runs along the southeastern edge of t ...
and the
Tijuana-Tecate freeways run through it.
*
San Antonio de los Buenos – This is mostly a residential area although it also has two industrial parks.
*
Sanchez Taboada – Like the previous borough this is mostly a residential area, but within its borders are located many "maquiladoras" specially at Pacific Industrial Park.
Climate
Tijuana's climate has a
hot semi-arid (
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''BSh''), with about of annual precipitation, and generally mild to warm weather year-round. It has characteristics of the
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...
(''Csa'') found to the immediate north, east, and south east, with most of the annual precipitation falling in the winter, between the months of November and March. Similar to
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, there are large summer temperature differences between the immediate coastline and the inner areas of the city. This is due to cold current inflow moderating the seaside temperature swings from the strong solar radiation.
Between November and March, storms originate from fronts entering off of the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
. January is the wettest month of the year for the city and during this time a periodic event, similar to
June Gloom
June Gloom is a mainly Southern California term for a weather pattern that results in cloud cover, cloudy, overcast skies with cool temperatures during the late spring and early summer. While the marine layer is most common in the month of June ...
, is observed created by
marine layer
A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a Inversion (meteorology), temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling ...
. January is the coolest month, during which temperatures average . In the city April signifies the end of winter and the start of
Santa Ana winds
The Santa Ana winds, occasionally referred to as the devil winds, are strong, extremely dry katabatic winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California and northern Baja California. They originate from cool, dry high-pressure ...
. Though the daytime highs are generally around , heat waves can reach up to . The hottest months in the city are August and September, during which temperatures average . Summers are by far the driest time of year since influences from the
California Current
The California Current () is a cold water Pacific Ocean ocean current, current that moves southward along the western coast of North America, beginning off southern British Columbia and ending off southern Baja California Sur. It is considered an ...
and the
North Pacific High
The North Pacific High is a semi-permanent, subtropical anticyclone located in the northeastern portion of the Pacific Ocean, located northeast of Hawaii and west of California. It is part of the great belt of anticyclones known as the subtropical ...
suppress the formation of rainfall caused by the
North American Monsoon.
Tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
s do impact the city from time to time, however. The most recent to do so was
Hurricane Hilary
Hurricane Hilary was a large and powerful Pacific hurricane in August 2023 that brought torrential rainfall and gusty winds to the Pacific Coast of Mexico, the Baja California Peninsula, and the Southwestern United States, resulting in wid ...
in 2023, which dumped torrential that caused widespread flash floods and landslides.
As in coastal Southern California, air pollution sometimes occurs during periods of temperature inversion, especially during summer and fall, but (unlike Mexico City) is seldom severe and in recent years has lessened due to cleaner car engines.
Frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
and snow are rare phenomena in the city as temperatures are usually well above freezing. Yet, in December 1967, snow fell in the city and in January 2007 feather light snow fell in the east of the city. However, excessive amounts of snow fall have never been recorded in the city. On 14 February 2008, a winter storm caused an unusual snowfall in the upper reaches of the hills of the city.
The record low temperature recorded in the city was , while the highest was .
Demographics
Tijuana has a diverse
cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Internationalism
* World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship
* Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community
* Cosmopolitan ...
population which includes migrants from other parts of Mexico and from all over the world. Tijuana has one of Mexico's largest Asian populations, predominantly consisting of Chinese immigrants. Tijuana also has a large and rapidly growing population of
Americans
Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...
, mostly from Southern California. Many Latin Americans, notably
Cubans
Cubans () are the citizens and nationals of Cuba. The Cuban people have varied origins with the most spoken language being Spanish. The larger Cuban diaspora includes individuals that trace ancestry to Cuba and self-identify as Cuban but are n ...
, and
Guatemalans
Guatemalans ( or less commonly ) are people connected to the country of Guatemala. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Guatemalans, several (if not all) of these connections exist.
Guatemala is a multicultu ...
, have made Tijuana their home. The city also has many
Lebanese, Italian, French and Spanish citizens. Recently, the city has received a large influx of
Haitian immigrants.
The majority of Tijuana's migrant Mexican population hail from
Sinaloa
Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales.
It is located in northwest Mexic ...
,
Michoacán
Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...
,
Jalisco
Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...
,
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
, and the
Federal District
A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...
. Because of the diversity of Mexico and the influx of immigrants from almost every region in the country, there are no accurate estimates on ethnicity or race of the current population. The heavy influx of immigrants to the city and municipality of Tijuana has led to job creation in the form of over 700 twin-plant (maquiladora) factories, which serve as the basis of employment for the majority of the working-class people in northern Mexico. The high poverty level in Tijuana is attributed to the city's "magnet status" for people who have come from the poorer south of the nation and citizens from other nations seeking to escape from extreme poverty. Tijuana holds a status that provides the possibility of employment as well as higher education and the dream of crossing the border. Tijuana and Baja California in general have much stronger economies and higher incomes than other Mexican cities along the United States border, as well as more moderate weather.
Tijuana today is one of the fastest-growing cities in Mexico, with an average of 80,000 people moving to Tijuana yearly. In terms of area, the city grows by approximately three
hectares
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...
a day, mostly east and south as the city is mostly built out to the beach already with the exception of some canyons. Along with settlements separated from Tijuana proper and other communities unimproved land, big business moves in providing supermarkets and retail to marginal areas, along with paved roads. The city experiences the construction of 26,000 new settlers a year that has led to the unregulated, illegal
squatter
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not Land ownership and tenure, own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estima ...
homes that takes place in the hills and valleys of ever expanding Tijuana, most of these areas are still without city services like sidewalks, paving, streetlights, and public transit. This is an ongoing process: as older and existing squatter areas are brought into the city services, more marginal areas become occupied by squatters.
National Population Council (CONAPO) data has estimated that by 2030, growth rates maintaining, the city will become the second-largest in Mexico and anchor to the fourth largest metropolitan area in Mexico. The suburban sprawl observed in Tijuana leaves the downtown and beach areas relatively affluent.
While the
INEGI
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI from its former name in ) is an autonomous agency of the Government of Mexico, Mexican Government dedicated to coordinate the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information ...
Census 2010 placed Tijuana's population at 1.3 million, only two percent more than in 2005 Census, Tijuana City Council estimates from 2010 place the population closer to two million, at 1.6 million.
the large majority of the city's population, 96%, adhere to the beliefs of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. The denominations are further divided into followers of
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
– 61% – and of
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
– 35%. While other beliefs occupying a 4% margin in the city include
Taoism
Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...
(among other Asian and European religions),
atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...
and
agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer t ...
is also found.
Crime
Tijuana is the birthplace and base of the
Tijuana Cartel
The Tijuana Cartel (, ), formerly also known as the Arellano-Félix Cartel (, CAF), is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Founded by the Arellano-Félix family, the cartel once was described as "one of the biggest a ...
. From 2007 through 2010, Tijuana experienced a high level of violent
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
related to gang violence, in part derived from the
Mexican drug war
The Mexican drug war is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing Asymmetric warfare, asymmetric armed conflict between the Federal government of Mexico, Mexican government and various Drug cartel#Mexico, drug trafficking syndicates. When the ...
and
human trafficking
Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...
. Homicides peaked in 2010, when 844 people were killed,
compared with 355 in 2004 and 349 in the first eight months of 2011.
Reportedly, the wave of violence resulted from a
turf war as the administration of President
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 and 2004. ...
weakened the local
Arellano Félix cartel; violence slowed when the larger
Sinaloa cartel
The Sinaloa Cartel (, , after the native Sinaloa region), also known as the ''CDS'', the ''Guzmán-Loera Organization'', the ''Federation'', the ''Sinaloa Cartel'', or the Pacific Cartel, is a large, drug trafficking transnational organized cri ...
took control.
During the peak years of violent crime in the city, gun battles between rival cartels, and between cartels and the police, erupted in public. In April 2008, police found 1,500 shell casings on various streets after one battle left 13 suspected drug traffickers dead. In 2009 and depending on the source, Tijuana Municipality experienced either 556 or 1,118 murders, mostly as a result of the
drug war.
There were 492 murders in 2013, a 48% increase in the homicide rate between 2012 and 2013. This was the highest number of murders since 2010. By the end of 2017, the number of murders in Tijuana increased to 1,744, which was almost double those in 2016.
In 2018,
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
data recorded 2,253 homicides in Tijuana, equivalent to 129.8 per 100,000 inhabitants.
In May 2022,
Statista
Statista (styled in all lower case) is a German online platform that specializes in data gathering and visualization. In addition to publicly available third-party data, Statista also provides exclusive data via the platform, which is collect ...
data reported Tijuana as having the second highest homicide rate in the world at 138 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Government

At present, the parties with the greatest presence in Tijuana are the
National Action Party (PAN),
Institutional Revolutionary Party
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...
(PRI), and
Ecologist Green Party of Mexico
The Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (, , PVEM or PVE) is a green political party in Mexico. Founded in 1986, the party is associated with Jorge González Torres and his son Jorge Emilio González Martínez.
It has seldom gotten more than 10% of ...
(PVEM). The PAN has been the dominant party in the city for 20 years. Historically the PRI had been the dominant party in regional politics, until 1989 when the PAN began to dominate the city, until yet again, in 2004, PRI began regaining prominence and won the Mayor's Office.
Less prominent parties also maintain relations with the dominant parties. These other parties, with less presence include the
New Alliance Party
The New Alliance Party (NAP) was an American political party formed in New York City in 1979. Its immediate precursor was an umbrella organization known as the Labor Community Alliance for Change, whose member groups included the Coalition of Gr ...
(PANAL),
Social Encounter Party (PES), and
Party of the Democratic Revolution
The Party of the Democratic Revolution (, , PRD) is a state-level social democracy, social democratic political party in Mexico (previously national, until 2024). The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 198 ...
(PRD). Allied with the PAN at the state and local level under the Alliance for Baja California are the Social Encounter Party (PES) and New Alliance Party (PANAL). Allied with the PRI at the state and local level under the "Alliance for Better Living" are the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM) and Baja California State Party (PEBC).
Tijuana's importance and rise to a global city has led to its recognition among countries worldwide. In addition to international cultural recognition, Tijuana has received political recognition and is a developing a political center currently host to eight consulates from European, Asian and North American countries.
Economy

Tijuana is the economic center of
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 ...
and an important center for international trade in
The Californias
The Californias (), occasionally known as the Three Californias or the Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican states of Baja California a ...
. The city is one of North America's most prominent manufacturing centers, as well as a major tourist destination.
Plaza Rio Tijuana is a large regional mall anchored by
Cinépolis
Cinépolis is a Mexico-based international movie theater chain. Its name means ''City of Cinema'' and its slogan is ''La Capital del Cine'' ().
Cinépolis was the biggest cineplex chain in Mexico, with 427 theaters in 97 cities. It is also th ...
,
Sanborns, Súper DAX and
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...
. An important concentration of commercial plazas is in the
Cinco y Diez around an eponymous intersection, named for a former American-style
five and dime
A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sells th ...
store that was located there. It is also a major hub for public transit.
Plaza Carrousel, with its namesake merry-go-round, is located here.
Tijuana, along with the nearby
Valle de Guadalupe, has recently become a culinary hotspot due to its
Baja Med cuisine, including chefs such as
Javier Plascencia, but also for its tacos, other street food, food trucks, coffee houses and artisanal beer.
Tijuana receives 2.5 million
medical tourists per year.
Tourism
Tijuana also relies on tourism for a major part of its revenue. About 300,000 visitors cross by foot or car from the
San Ysidro point of entry in the United States every day. Restaurants and
taco stand
A taco stand or taquería is a food stall, food cart or restaurant that specializes in tacos and other Mexican dishes. The food is typically prepared quickly and tends to be inexpensive. Many various ingredients may be used, and various taco ...
s, pharmacies, bars and dance clubs, and shops and stalls selling Mexican crafts and souvenirs are part of the draw for the city's tourists, many located within walking distance of the border. The city's tourist centers include
Downtown Tijuana including the nightlife hot spots aroun
La Sexta Avenida Revolución, souvenir shopping at the ''Mercado de Artesanías'' and
Plaza Viva Tijuana, Tijuana's Cultural Center (
CECUT) and neighboring
Plaza Río Tijuana shopping center, and the city's best known vices, in the form of its legal
Red Light District
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...
and gambling (
Agua Caliente). Tijuana is also known for being the birthplace of the
Caesar salad
A Caesar salad (also spelled Cesar, César and Cesare), also known as Caesar's salad, is a green salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with lemon juice (or lime juice), olive oil, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, Dijon ...
. Mexico's
drinking age
The legal drinking age is the minimum age at which a person can legally consume alcoholic beverages. The minimum age alcohol can be legally consumed can be different from the age when it can be purchased in some countries. These laws vary betwee ...
of 18 (vs. 21 in the United States) makes it a common weekend destination for many high school and college aged Southern Californians who tend to stay on Avenida Revolución.
Tijuana is also known for its
red-light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex industry, sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light district ...
Zona Norte (also referred to as ''La Coahuila'' after one of its main streets) with legal
prostitution
Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...
in strip clubs and on the street. The strip clubs are typically full-contact, meaning the dancers let patrons fondle them.
Many dancers also sell their sexual services. In a 1999 estimation, there were 15,000 women engaged in prostitution in Tijuana outside of clubs and brothels.
Tijuana has many pharmacies that target visitors from the United States, which sell some medicines without prescriptions and/or at much lower costs than in the U.S. Many medications still require a Mexican prescription, which can be obtained from adjacent doctors' offices. People filling up prescriptions for drugs classified in the US as
Schedule II or
Schedule III have found it more difficult to locate such medications, and the purchase of pseudoephedrine also has become restricted by Tijuana pharmacies, just as in the U.S. To fill a prescription in Tijuana for any drug covered by the US
Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is the statute establishing federal government of the United States, federal drug policy of the United States, U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of ...
and legally bring it into the United States requires a prescription from the United States for re-import. Americans can import up to a 90-day supply of non-controlled medications for personal use to the US from Mexico and other countries.
Businesses such as auto detailing, medical and dental services and plastic surgery are heavily marketed, and are usually much less expensive than in the U.S.
Tijuana is headquarters for Mexico's largest gambling concern,
Grupo Caliente, which operates the only casinos in the city, more than twenty branches.
Tourists are sometimes
robbed by municipal police.
Manufacturing
Tijuana is a large manufacturing center, and in addition to tourism, it serves as a cornerstone of the city economy. In the past decade alone, Tijuana became the medical device manufacture capital of the North American continent, surpassing previous leader
Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, Minnesota River, Minnesota, and St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota), ...
. Recently Scantibodies announced a new plant of 130,000 m2 devoted to manufacturing of medical devices The new plant is a build to suit by FINSA
Tijuana's proximity to
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
, and the city's large, skilled, diverse, and relatively inexpensive workforce, make it an attractive city for foreign companies looking to establish extensive industrial parks composed of assembly plants that are called ''
maquiladora
A (), or (), is a factory that is largely duty (economics), duty free and tariff free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present thro ...
s'', even more so than other cities in the US-Mexican border zone, taking advantage of the
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...
(NAFTA) to export products. At its peak, in 2001 Tijuana had roughly 820 of these 'maquiladoras'. Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands of employees in these plants, usually in assembly-related labor. Such jobs are not demanding but typically offer above average salaries for Mexico, with most maqiladoras jobs beginning at MX$100 per day (about 5 US dollars, as of September 2016), significantly above the Mexican minimum wage of Mex$57.46 (about 3 US dollars, as of September 2016). Companies that have set up maquiladoras in Tijuana include
Medtronic
Medtronic plc is an American-Irish medical device company. The company's legal and executive headquarters are in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, while its operational headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Medtronic rebased to I ...
,
Lanix
Lanix Internacional, S.A. de C.V. is a multinational computer and mobile phone manufacturer company based in Hermosillo, Mexico. Lanix primarily markets and sells its products in Mexico and the Latin American export market.
History
Lanix was ...
,
Hyundai
Hyundai is a former South Korean industrial conglomerate ("''chaebol''"), which was restructured into the following groups:
* Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested
** Hyundai Asan, a real estate construction ...
,
Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
,
Vortec,
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
,
Vizio,
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
,
Dell
Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...
,
Samsung
Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...
,
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
,
Matsushita/Panasonic,
GE,
Nabisco
Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.
Nabisco' ...
,
Ford,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
,
Cemex
CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V., known as Cemex, is a Mexican multinational building materials company headquartered in San Pedro, near Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. It manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than ...
,
Zonda,
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
,
Pioneer,
Airbus
Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...
,
Plantronics
Plantronics, Inc. is an American electronics company producing audio communications equipment for business and consumers. Its products support unified communications, mobile use, gaming and music. Plantronics is headquartered in Santa Cruz, Cal ...
,
Siemens Mexico
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positio ...
,
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
,
Sanyo
is a former Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own bu ...
and
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
. Many of the maquiladoras are located in the Otay Mesa and Florido sections of Tijuana.
Economic development has its central business district at Zona Río, which together, with the corridor along Blvd. Agua Caliente (the extension of Avenida Revolución), contains the majority of the higher-end office space in the city.
Education
Tijuana is home to many private Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and High Schools as well as nationally high-ranked colleges and universities.
The
Instituto México is a notable secondary school.
Higher education
Universities in Tijuana include:
*
Autonomous University of Baja California, Tijuana
*
Ibero-American University
*
Xochicalco UniversityCetys Universidad, TijuanaTijuana Institute of TechnologyUNIVERSITAM Technology University
Culture
Many foreigners travel to Tijuana to drink and dance, buy
prescription drug
A prescription drug (also prescription medication, prescription medicine or prescription-only medication) is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs c ...
s, purchase bootleg brand-name clothing, timepieces, and other personal accessories found globally, as well as manufactured and hand-crafted local curiosities. Locals and regular tourists avoid hassles by visiting the clubs at ''Plaza Fiesta'' or other areas of the
Zona Río without the crowds, heavy marketing, and occasional tourist misbehavior or outright lawbreaking common on the Revolución strip.
Parque Morelos has a small zoo and park space; Parque de la Amistad in Otay Centenario has a small pond, and a running and dirt-bike track. Parque Teniente Guerrero is a downtown park with a public library and weekend entertainment by clowns.
Entertainment
As Tijuana matured from a tourist-oriented border town into one of Mexico's largest cities, the 1982 opening of the
Tijuana Cultural Center
The Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) is a cultural center in the Zona Río district of Tijuana, Mexico. The center opened 20 October 1982, and accommodates more than a million visitors per year.
Nowadays this iconic Tijuana institution has differ ...
(CECUT) marked a milestone. CECUT's mission was to strengthening Tijuana's image, both to US visitors and to Mexicans, as a destination for culture and not only shopping and vice. The center includes an OMNIMAX cinema showing
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
films, the Museum of the Californias, contemporary art exhibition halls, a restaurant, café, bookstore, and other cultural facilities.
La Casa de la Cultura cultural center comprises a school, a theater, and a public library, and teaches dance, painting, music, plastic arts, photography and languages.
Other cultural venues include the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture), the Tijuana Wax Museum, the Museo El Trompo (
Trompo Museum), and
El Foro, the former
Jai Alai
Jai alai ( : ) is a Basque sport involving bouncing a ball off a walled-in space by accelerating it to high speeds with a hand-held wicker, commonly referred to as a ''cesta''. It is a variation of Basque pelota. The term ''jai alai'', coined by ...
Palace, that is now a concert venue. Concerts are also held at the Estadio Caliente stadium, Hipódromo
Agua Caliente Racetrack, and at the "Audiorama" at the Museo El Trompo children's museum of science and technology.
The
Tijuana Country Club (Club Campestre de Tijuana) has many affluent members and a famous golf course and also functions as an entertainment and events venue. Tijuana also has a large
Rotary Club
Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...
.
Nightlife
Avenida Revolución has been known for its proliferation of nightclub shows, primarily catering to tourists.
Tijuana's nightlife scene is one of the city's strongest attractions. The area surrounding "La Sexta", the intersection at Calle Sexta and Av. Revolución, is now a major hub of new bars and dance clubs. Zona Rio, Tijuana's new Downtown, is home to some of the city's finest restaurants and bars. Another capstone of Tijuana's entertainment offerings is its adult nightlife industry, which includes the city's red light district as well as less conspicuous adult entertainment venues.
Art
Tijuana also has a very active and independent artist community whose internationally recognized work has earned Tijuana the title of "one of the most important new cultural meccas", according to ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'',
[''Strange New World''] an exhibition of Tijuana's current art scene, is being curated by the
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is an art museum in La Jolla
La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the ...
and is traveling across the US in 2006 and 2007. Art collectives like ''Bulbo'' and film production like ''Palenque Filmaciones'' explore the use of film like the award-winning
Tijuana Makes Me Happy, media like television bulbo TV and print "bulbo PRESS", to show different realities of Tijuana out of Mexico. In 2004, Tijuana earned international acclaim for an art exhibition displayed on the cement banks of the Tijuana River and along the Mexico/U.S. border fence in Otay Mesa.
Graffiti
Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...
is widespread in Tijuana. They can range from free-hand writing in spray can and marker form, often carrying social or sexual commentary in English or Spanish, pictures in
wheatpaste
Wheatpaste (also known as flour and water paste, flour paste, or simply paste) is a gel or liquid adhesive made from wheat flour or starch and water. It has been used since antiquity for various arts and crafts such as bookbinding, ''Decoupage, ...
and stencils, consisting of stenciled renderings of personalities crucial to Hispanic culture from past and present eras, such as television news announcers or stars, but also extending to images of artists like
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
. Graffiti in Tijuana may seem at first to consist largely of simplistic tags and thus not as technically evolved, colorful, or accepted in the mainstream as the "pieces" of graffiti scenes of the United States, Europe, or Japan, but large, colorful graffiti murals adorn walls from both native Tijuanan artists as well as visiting graffiti writers, especially from California. The Tijuanan art pieces show as much prowess and skill as those made by their more renowned U.S. counterparts, although illicit graffiti are strongly discouraged by the Tijuana government, as in other major metropolitan areas.
Music
Since the decade of the 1920s, Tijuana has excelled in the musical field, thanks to the first groups of ranchera music that began to set the tourist establishments in the area with the visit of foreigners, including the former Casino Agua Caliente.
Javier Batiz founded in 1957 he founded a group called "" with which he collected musical influences that were received in the Mexican border cities of black music, blues and R&B from people like T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters,
B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...
,
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...
, Howlin' Wolf, James Brown, among others. Later he would start his solo career in the rest of the country and participating in some bands in Mexico City.

During the 60s, the American trumpeter
Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...
, in a visit to the bullfights made in the old Bullfight, found musical inspiration so after the recording of his single "The Lonely Bull", which was a radio hit in 1962. With the success, he decided to make a casting and formed "The Tijuana Brass", with whom he toured and had a presentation on television. It was a musical collaboration with artists from Los Angeles, with style called "Tijuana Marimba´s Brass". The band was dissolved in 1969 but they continued with some presentations under the name of T.J.B. 55
Despite the downturn in rock artists for some years, in the 90s
Tijuana No! emerged, returning a bit of the genre to the city. They also incorporated ska, punk and reggae. "No" would be the first album released, from which successes like "Pobre de ti", which had
Julieta Venegas
Julieta Venegas Percevault (; born 24 November 1970) is a Mexican singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and producer who specializes in pop-rock-indie music in Spanish. She embarked on her musical journey by joining several bands, including the ...
as a vocalist, would emerge. Later the singer began her solo career already in the 00s of the 21st century. Her musical career reached the recording of six studio albums, and she won two
Grammys
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
, six
Latin Grammys, six MTV Latin America and two
Latin Music Billboard.
Among other things, Tijuana has been the inspiration for the birthplace of
Nortec
Nortec (from the combination of " norteño" and "techno") is a genre of electronic dance music developed in Tijuana (a border city in Baja California, Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It ...
music style and
Ruidoson, resulting in a very large and active electronic music scene where groups and artists like
Los Macuanos,
Maria y Jose,
Siberium,
Hidhawk and
Harpocrates
Harpocrates (, Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤐𐤊𐤓𐤈, romanized: ḥrpkrṭ, ''harpokratēs'') is the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in History of Alexandria#Ptolemaic era ...
emerged. Tijuana also enjoys a large base of support in many other musical scenes such as
mexican hip hop,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
,
hardcore,
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...
and
house music
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
. Famous musicians are from Tijuana including the pop-rock singer-songwriter
Lynda Thomas
Lynda Aguirre Thomas (born 21 December 1981), known professionally as Lynda, is a Mexican musician, singer, songwriter and activist. She achieved recognition in her native Mexico during the late 1990s and early 2000s. She was signed to EMI Cap ...
and
Vanessa Zamora and international indie punk bands like
Delux
Delux is a pop rock band formed in Tijuana
Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of t ...
and Los Kung-Fu Monkeys.
To promote the cultural development in children and youth of Tijuana, since 1996 the Tijuana Youth Symphony (SJT) has been promoted, which promotes education and musical training through instrument practices, music reading and public concerts. In addition, Tijuana has an opera season. There are also several musical festivals throughout the year, among which the Latin American Guitar Festival, Mainly Mozart Binacional, and the International Exhibition of contemporary dance "Bodies in Transit" stand out.
Tijuana is home to the Baja California Orchestra, one of the most prestigious and solid artistic institutions in northwestern Mexico, which was nominated for the Latin Grammy in the category of best classical album by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Inc., with the album Tango kills Danzón kills Tango. This phonogram was distinguished as 'Best Classical Album of the year 2001' by the Mexican Union of Theater and Music Chroniclers. Currently, it maintains an annual season, offering symphonic and chamber music concerts in the most important forums of Tijuana and Baja California.
Sports
The city is home to the
Tijuana Zonkeys professional basketball
In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger a ...
team of the
CIBACOPA basketball league. The team is composed mostly of players from Mexico and plays from February to July in the
Municipal Auditorium.
The city has a strong tradition of
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
,
Club Tijuana
Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, simply known as Tijuana or Xolos, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Tijuana, Baja California, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. The club ...
began playing in the
Liga MX
Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...
México Primera División on the 2011/12 season, winning the 2012 Apertura title. They play their matches at the
Estadio Caliente, a new 33,000-seat stadium. The team's mascot is the
Xoloitzcuintle
The Xoloitzcuintle (or Xoloitzquintle, Xoloitzcuintli, or Xolo) is one of several breeds of hairless dog. It is found in standard, intermediate, and miniature sizes. The Xolo also comes in a coated variety, totally covered in fur. Coated and hai ...
, a famous Mexican hairless dog.
Tijuana also has a long history of producing many world champion professional boxers, such as
Antonio Margarito and
Erik Morales
Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (born September 1, 1976) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to quadruple champion, win world championships in four weight classes, rangin ...
.
Stadiums
Estadio Caliente
Estadio Caliente is a multi-purpose stadium in Tijuana, serving as the match venue for Club Tijuana, a
Liga MX
Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...
México Primera División football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
team. It is mainly used for football matches and has a seating capacity of 27,333 spectators.
Estadio Chevron
The Chevron Stadium is the home of the Toros de Tijuana. It opened in 1977 and housed the Colts missing Tijuana Mexican Pacific League. Subsequently, the stadium was used for football matches. For 2004, professional baseball returned, now with a franchise LMB under the name of ''Toros de Tijuana'', which, the following year, changed its name to ''Colts'' as it had been known previously.
At first the facility was called Cerro Colorado Stadium, due to its location at the foot of the hill of that name. With the return of baseball, chain supermarkets ''Calimax'' bought the naming rights to the stadium. In 2004, the first season of ''Toros'', the fans filled the stadium for most matches. On 4 April 2013, the stadium was remodeled, marking the beginning of a new era for Toros de Tijuana.
Transportation

Tijuana is a major gateway to the interior of Mexico to which it is connected by air and road directly, and by sea via the ports of Ensenada and San Diego. Within Tijuana there are freeways and other roads, and buses, but no passenger rail.
Local public transportation in Tijuana is run by semiprivate companies, and has one of the most complex, or perhaps unorganized networks.
Air
The
Tijuana International Airport
Tijuana International Airport (); officially ''Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez'' (General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport) , is an international airport located northeast of downtown Tijuana, Baja Califo ...
is the city's main airport, one of the busiest in Mexico, and serves several airlines with destinations all across Mexico. International service to China was discontinued in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, leaving the airport without international service. Tijuana Airport is also a second main airport for the San Diego area for passengers heading south into Mexico and Latin America, who may use the airport's
Cross Border Xpress
The Cross Border Xpress (CBX) is a border crossing and port of entry that connects San Diego in the United States and Tijuana International Airport in Mexico. Operational since December 2015, CBX consists of a terminal building located in the ...
terminal located on the U.S. side of the border in Otay Mesa and connected to the rest of the airport on the Mexican side by a pedestrian toll bridge. U.S., European, Asian and
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
destinations can be reached via
San Diego International Airport
San Diego International Airport is the primary international airport serving San Diego and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. The airport is located northwest of downtown San Diego. It is the busiest single- ...
, located about north of the international border.
Highways

Two important Mexican federal highway corridors start in Tijuana. One of them is
Fed 1, which runs south through the
Baja California Peninsula through
Rosarito Beach
Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US–Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater San Diego� ...
,
Baja Mar
Baja Mar (or Bajamar) is a seaside resort community twenty minutes north of Ensenada, Baja California, Ensenada and forty minutes south of Greater San Diego–Tijuana in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, Mexico. The resort community is locate ...
, and
Ensenada before ending in
Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas (, "Luke the Evangelist, Saint Luke Cape (geography), Cape"), also known simply as Cabo, is a Resort town, resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, in the Mexican Political divisions of Mexico, state of Baja ...
,
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur, is a state in Mexico. It is the 31st and last state to be admitted, in 1974. It is also the second least populated Mexican state and the ninth-largest state by ...
. From Tijuana to Ensenada, most travelers take Fed 1D (scenic road), a four-lane, limited-access toll road that runs along the coast, starting at Playas de Tijuana.
Fed 2 runs east for near the international border, as far as
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...
,
Chihuahua.
Within the metropolitan area the
Corredor Tijuana-Rosarito 2000
Corredor Tijuana-Rosarito 2000, also Bulevar 2000, Boulevard 2000, Corredor 2000, is a freeway in northwestern Baja California connecting the Mesa de Otay area of eastern Tijuana with Rosarito Beach. long, it runs along the southeastern edge of t ...
freeway connects
Mesa de Otay
Otay Centenario is a borough of the municipality of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico. It is the result of a merger between the former boroughs of Mesa de Otay and Centenario which took place on January 1, 2014.
The borough is located east of ...
in the northeast of the city with
Rosarito Beach
Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US–Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater San Diego� ...
in the southwest.
Just north of the San Ysidro border crossing,
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...
and
Interstate 805
Interstate 805 (I-805) is a major north–south List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in Southern California. It is a bypass (road), bypass auxiliary route of Interstate 5 in California, I-5, running roughly t ...
head northbound to San Diego and beyond. From the Otay Mesa border crossing,
California State Route 905 takes drivers west to connect with
California State Route 125 toll road, as well as both I-805 and I-5.
Transit
The city's main
bus station
A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can st ...
is in its eastern borough. A small terminal downtown serves a few Mexican bus lines, and U.S.-based
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...
and
Crucero USA. Another bus station near the border provides frequent service to
Ensenada, and other major cities—including
Mazatlán
Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding , known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast across from th ...
,
Culiacán
Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531 by the Spanish conquistadors Lázaro de ...
,
Hermosillo
Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo municipality, the state's ...
, and
Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
. Major
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
lines operating in Tijuana include Azul y Blanco de Magallanes (Blue & White) and Transporte Express de Tijuana – TEEXTI; modernizing system originally intended to phase out the other lines that partially introduced but ceased and merged with Azul y Blanco.
A
bus rapid transit system, named SITT, operates one route from Downtown Tijuana and Garita Puerto Mexico near the
San Ysidro Port of Entry
__NOTOC__
The San Ysidro Port of Entry (aka the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry or the San Ysidro LPOE) is the largest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, and the fourth- busiest land border crossing in the world (second-busiest exc ...
, southeasterly along the Tijuana River to Terminal Insurgentes in the southeast of the city. It is part of a planned system of main and feeder lines to replace other buses and minibuses.
In 2006, Tijuana underwent a major overhaul of its existing system of ''guayines'', or shared fixed-route station wagons, forcing the replacement of the ''guayines'' with new models of vans, serving as fixed-route taxis. Major transit hubs include Centro (Downtown Tijuana), Otay, Soler, and the ''Cinco'' y ''Diez'' avenues. Taxi lines operating in the city include Free Taxis, those that do not maintain a specific route; Economic Taxis; Diamond Taxis – black or yellow cabs; and regular taxis maintaining a set route. There are as many bus lines and routes as fixed-route taxi ones or ''calafias'', and new routes for buses, taxis or ''calafias'' are frequently created, due to high demand of public transportation. Public transportation service is inexpensive, with bus tickets at maximum, US$0.75. Fixed-route taxis are somewhat more expensive, depending on the taxi route, reaching US$2.00. Bus, taxi and ''calafia'' lines and routes are distinguished from one another by their vehicles colors. However, there is no public record for these routes, set timetables, or fixed bus stops, making Tijuana's public transportation services very unreliable especially for lesser served areas. Locals generally transmit this type of information (routes) by word of mouth.
In March 2021, the
Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (Mexico) approved a state contract for the design, construction, and operation of the first phase of a Tijuana-Tecate interurban rail line. The segment will connect the San Ysidro-Tijuana land port of entry to Ejido Maclovio Rojas municipality in Tijuana's east and will include seven intermediate stations – Kino, Américas Oriente/Xolos, La 5 y 10, Swap Meet Siglo XX1, García, Terán Terán and El 2000.
International relations
Tijuana has multiple sister cities and twin towns. These relations have been formalized by a variety of organizations as well as municipal governments. Currently
twinned with the City of Tijuana are:
Notable people
Notes
References
Further reading
*Kun, Josh, and Fiamma Montezemolo, eds. ''Tijuana Dreaming: Life and Art at the Global Border'' (Duke University Press; 2012) 387 pages; scholarly and popular essays including material translated from Spanish for the first time; topics include the city's image in fiction as a Prohibition-era "city of sin" for American visitors
External links
Official
Tijuana Municipal GovernmentTijuana Economic Development Corporation
{{Authority control
Populated places in Tijuana Municipality
Populated coastal places in Mexico
Populated places established in 1889
1889 establishments in Mexico
Cities in Mexico
Mexico–United States border crossings