La Puente (Spanish for "The Bridge")[6] is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States.

The city had a population of 39,816 at the 2010 census and is approximately 20 miles (32 km) east of downtown Los Angeles.

The original inhabitants of the area now occupied by the city of La Puente were the Tongva lived in a village called Awingna, which linguists translate as "abiding place."

The Awingna chief Matheo (who also held sway over several other nearby villages) was baptized at Mission San Gabriel in 1774.

On July 30, the party camped on the east side of the San Gabriel River, in today's unincorporated area of Bassett.

Father Juan Crespi wrote in his diary that, the next day, they had to build a bridge (Spanish "puente") to cross the miry San Gabriel River.

The rancho was visited by the Jedediah Smith party in November 1826, the first Americans to travel overland to California.

[12] A small airport called the 'Skyranch' operated in La Puente from 1944 to 1951 before it was closed and developed for housing.

However, the local government has been relatively unsuccessful in its attempts to attract big-box retailers and restaurant chains.

[14] The city, which is mostly flat, covers about 3.5 square miles (9.1 km2) of land in the San Gabriel Valley.

[26] Prior to 1960, the area was part of the unincorporated portion of the now-defunct El Monte Township.

There were 9,761 housing units at an average density of 2,805.3 per square mile (1,083.1/km2), of which 5,693 (60.2%) were owner-occupied, and 3,758 (39.8%) were occupied by renters.

According to the 2010 United States Census, La Puente had a median household income of $53,794, with 14.3% of the population living below the federal poverty line.