[8] Founded in June 1887, the city takes its name from Imperial County, California, a desert climate 100 miles (161 km) east.

Farmers and land owners from the Imperial Valley came to the area in the late 1880s seeking cooler weather during summer months.

In 2004, the city began implementing a community redevelopment plan to improve the commercial corridor along Palm Avenue and Seacoast Drive.

The city occupies the extreme southwest corner of the continental United States: bordered by Playas de Tijuana and Tijuana to the south, Coronado, California, and San Diego Bay to the north, San Diego to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

It is also part of the San Diego–Tijuana region, the largest bi-national metropolitan area shared between the United States and Mexico with over 5 million people.

[15] According to Udasin, the water quality has degraded due to five hundred illegal discharges from the South Bay plant, which has leaked a billion gallons of raw sewage flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

According to estimates by the San Diego Association of Governments, the median household income of Imperial Beach in 2010 was $49,104 (not adjusted for inflation).

The San Diego County summer tourist season brings many visitors to the city's beaches each year.

The city held the final sand castle competition in August 2011, bringing an end to the annual event and tradition.

The city also holds the beach front classic car show every summer and an annual dog-surfing contest.

[18] The estuary, located off Seacoast Drive and Imperial Beach Boulevard, is home to many endangered birds and wildlife.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department 2008 crime statistics rank Imperial Beach below the national average in all areas reported.

[21] The HBO television series John from Cincinnati was about a dysfunctional surfing family in Imperial Beach set against the backdrop of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The series (from Executive Producer David Milch, writer Kem Nunn, and director Mark Tinker) was filmed at a variety of locations in Imperial Beach and in the Tijuana River Valley.

On February 21, 2019, Vice News Tonight on HBO broadcast a segment from Imperial Beach about how an extreme tidal surge, known as king tide, affects the local population living along the Pacific coast.