Indio, California

==Economy==
Two major contributions to the local economy are year-round agriculture and tourism, although the majority of tourist activity is seasonal, between October and May.

===Agriculture===
[[File:Shields Date Palm Garden (5543859993).jpg|thumb|upright|Entrance sign of the Shields Date Garden in Indio]]

Indio has been one of Southern California's most important agricultural regions, once responsible for a large percentage of the nation's date crop; however, due to increasing residential and recreational development, the date groves are now more limited to the south and southeast of Indio. Even the grove of date palm trees at the Riverside County Fair and national Date Festival grounds have been removed by the county.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}}

One can visit [[Shields Date Gardens]], a date grower that maintains a large retail store along State Highway 111. There are [[citrus]] groves and vegetable fields surrounding the city limits, but rapid development of new housing tracts and golf courses in the "East Valley" in the 1990s and 2000s has displaced most of the agricultural space.

===Employment and job growth===
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2009}}
Indio has increasingly served as a magnet of job opportunities for immigrants and newcomers from parts of California and across the nation. Jobs in fields such as agriculture, construction, hospitality, maintenance, and retail and housekeeping are highly sought after in the area.

Construction and government are among the largest employment sectors in Indio, with a higher proportion of workers in these industries in Indio than the rest of the Coachella Valley.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.indio.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?t=52928.83&amp;BlobID=26266 |title=2018 Indio Economic Report |last=Keil |first=Manfred W. |website=Coachella Valley Economic Partnership |date=October 2018 |publisher=Inland Empire Center at Claremont McKenna College |access-date=September 28, 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In addition to construction and government, a 2019 study revealed that the top five employment industries in Indio are educational services, entertainment services, wholesale/retail, agriculture/mining/construction, and waste services.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.indio.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=25751 |title=City of Indio, CA |publisher=HdL ECONSolutions |website=Insight Market Analytics |date=May 14, 2019 |access-date=September 28, 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Between 2007 and 2015, the percentage of retail trade jobs in Indio increased by 4.4 percent and the percentage of education jobs increased from 15.2 to 20.5 percent.

As the secondary seat of government for [[Riverside County, California]], Indio has many county offices and employs more than a thousand county employees. The California Superior Court's Larson Justice Center, Riverside County's Law Library and [[District attorney|District Attorney's office]], numerous law firms along Highway 111, and the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) College of Law (the only law school in Riverside County), located at 45290 Fargo Street, have made Downtown Indio the center for law and legal studies in the Coachella Valley.

The average salary for a job in Indio increased from $28,224 in 2003 to $35,532 in 2015.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.indio.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=26356 | title=Profile of the City of Indio | publisher=Southern California Association of Governments | date=May 2019 | access-date=September 28, 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The City of Indio is constantly expanding to see the number of jobs and average salaries rise. It is currently in the process of a 2040 general plan to increase the number of developments in Indio.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indio2040.org/ |title=Indio 2040 |access-date=September 30, 2019 |archive-date=September 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930232105/https://www.indio2040.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> For example, the city opened a 120-room [[Fairfield Inn by Marriott|Fairfield Inn and Suites]] in February 2019 and broke ground on a 93-room [[Hampton Inn and Suites]] that is expected to open January 2020.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/local/2018/12/24/indio-adding-more-hotel-rooms-ahead-2019-festival-season/2390936002/ |title=New Indio hotels aim to ease room shortage during Coachella festival, busy festival season |last=Lopez |first=Ricardo |date=December 24, 2018 |access-date=September 28, 2019 |website=Palm Springs Desert Sun}}</ref> A new movie theater and the continual development of retail stores at the Indio Towne Center, The Showcase at Indio, and The Palms shopping centers is also anticipated to create an abundance of jobs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.indio.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?t=49624.8&BlobID=28684 |title=Brochure |website=www.indio.org |access-date=January 14, 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Light industry is not new to Indio. Between the 1960s and the early 1980s, the [[Bank of America]]-owned [[Giannini Research Institute]], [[Henry J. Kaiser|Kaiser Inc.]] and [[Cabazon Firearms]] had contracts with both [[NASA]] and the [[US Armed Forces]] that produced ammunition, computer parts, moon rover parts for the [[Apollo 11|Apollo]] landing program, and train engines for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Indio sought more corporate businesses and office professions, including fruit packing and shipping firms. Locally based [[USFilter|United States Filter Corporation]], [[Guy Evans Inc.]], [[Dimare Fruit Co.]], [[West Coast Turf]] and Japanese-owned [[Sun World Inc.]]; and move-in companies such as [[Borden Milk Products|Borden]], [[Coca-Cola]], [[Ernie Ball Inc.|Ernie Ball]], [[Ernst and Young]], [[Ferguson Enterprises|Ferguson]], [[Fulton Distributors]], [[Guthy-Renker]], [[Pulte Homes]], [[Sunrise Company]], [[SunScape Tech]] and [[Tala Industries]] choose Indio for the location of transport routes, low economic costs, and growth potential.

Indio is home to Buzz Box Premium Cocktails, [[Ring Power|Ring Power Corporation]], Triangle Distributing Company (formerly Heimark), The Forager Project, and Purus International. Other companies in Indio include [[PepsiCo|Pepsi Cola Distributing]], RDO Equipment, Sepulveda Building Materials, Fortun Foods, Arctic Glacier, A.C. Houston Lumber Company, and Commercial Lighting Industry.

===Top employers===
According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indio.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?t=72345.03&BlobID=31096|title=City of Indio CAFR|access-date=August 2, 2021|archive-date=August 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802230203/https://www.indio.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?t=72345.03&BlobID=31096|url-status=dead}}</ref> the top employers in the city are:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! #
! Employer
! # of Employees
|-
|1
|[[Desert Sands Unified School District]]
|2,455
|-
|2
|[[Riverside County, California|County of Riverside]]
|1,135
|-
|3
|[[Fantasy Springs Resort Casino]]
|1,083
|-
|4
|[[Tenet Healthcare|John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital]]
|690
|-
|5
|[[Walmart Supercenter]]
|356
|-
|6
|City of Indio
|248
|-
|7
|[[Ralphs]]
|169
|-
|8
|[[Riverside County Superior Court]]
|166
|-
|9
|Indio Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
|161
|-
|10
|[[Cardenas (supermarket)|Cardenas Markets]]
|151
|}

===Native American gaming===
[[File:Spotlight 29 Casino.png|thumb|Entrance to Spotlight 29 Casino]]
Two [[Native American gaming|Native American owned]] casinos in and near Indio are the [[Fantasy Springs Resort Casino]], owned by the [[Cabazon Band of Mission Indians]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fantasyspringsresort.com/prod/press_room/press_room.php|title=Fantasy Springs Resort: Press Room|access-date=September 7, 2012|archive-date=October 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005050422/http://www.fantasyspringsresort.com/prod/press_room/press_room.php|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rtkl.com/projects/Index.aspx?projID=53&mktID=34#proj53|title=Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino|publisher=RTLK Associates|access-date=January 21, 2012|archive-date=March 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317133934/http://www.rtkl.com/projects/Index.aspx?projID=53&mktID=34#proj53|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the [[Spotlight 29 Casino]], owned by the [[Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians of California|Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spotlight29.com/about-us/|title=Spotlight 29: About us|access-date=September 7, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100512175405/http://www.spotlight29.com/about-us/|archive-date=May 12, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Spotlight 29 formerly was "Trump 29" when it was partly owned by then-businessman [[Donald Trump]] for a brief period of time in the 2000s.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/trump-29-spotlight-coachella-casino-deal-15882460.php | title=How a tiny Calif. Tribe out-dealt Trump over their shared casino | newspaper=Sfgate | date=January 20, 2021 | last1=Dowd | first1=Katie }}</ref>