The partnership dissolved in 1876 and Ezequiel and Juan Murrieta retained 15,000 acres of the northern half of the Temecula Rancho.

[14] In 1884, the Temecula Land and Water Company purchased about 14,500 acres from Juan Murrieta and mapped a townsite along the California Southern Railroad.

[15] Others discovered the valley after the construction of a depot in 1887[16] that connected Murrieta to the Southern California Railroad's transcontinental route.

[17] Today much of the site (about 50 acres) is home to a Bible college and conference center, owned by Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, which has invested millions of dollars into restoring and rebuilding the old resort rooms.

[19] Although US Route 395 had passed through Murrieta, it was not until Interstate 15 was built in the early 1980s that another boom began to take hold.

[17] In July 2014, Murrieta garnered national attention following days of citizen protests of detained immigrants.

[22] They were en route to a temporary relocation and detention facility, which the federal government had planned to establish in the town.

[23] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 33.6 sq mi (87.1 km2), of which 99.89% of it is land and 0.11% is covered by water.

The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 7.8%; 73,518 people (71.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 29,519 people (28.5%) lived in rental housing units.

[40] Bear Creek Golf and Country Club was designed by Jack Nicklaus, and Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan have played there.

The Golf Club at Rancho California was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr.[41] Murrieta is also the site of the last operating Mulligan Family Fun Center location, an amusement park specializing in miniature golf.

[51] In the United States Senate, California is represented by Democrats Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff.

[52] In the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, Murrieta is in the Third District, represented by Chuck Washington.

Calvary Chapel Bible College operated at the Murrieta Hot Springs Resort site from 1994 until 2022.

There had been a senior high school in the Calvary Chapel Murrieta system, but it closed in 2019.

[56][57] The area of southwest Riverside County is served by television station Channel 27, broadcast from a hilltop in Murrieta.

[59] The French Valley Airport, used for general aviation, is located just east of the city limits.

[60] The city may become host to the high-speed rail (HSR) that voters approved in 2008 with Prop 1A.

It has been the city's primary paramedic service provider since 2000, and changed its name in 2017 to Murrieta Fire and Rescue.