Like most of northern East Java, the city has a large Madurese population in addition to many ethnically Javanese people.

Strong dry-season winds from July to September, the angin gending, help the mango trees pollinate and are sometimes credited with being the source of the area's quality fruit.

The motto of the city is Bestari which is an abbreviation of bersih (cleanliness), sehat (healthy), tertib (orderly), aman (safe), rapi (neat), and indah (beautiful).

[6] As a result of Mataram's involvement in Geger Pacinan (and subsequent war), Dutch East India Company signed an agreement with Sunan Pakubuwono II on 11 November 1743 to hand over most of eastern Java, including Probolinggo, to the former.

[7] In 1811, under Dutch East Indies' Governor General Daendels rule, Probolinggo was sold to a Chinese man Han Tik-Ko.

The event was called Perang Kedopok/Kepruk Cino (Kedopok War/Hit the Chinese) in which Han Tik-Ko was killed.

The Dutch East Indies Lieutenant Governor Stamford Raffles then bought back the city from Han Tik-Ko's family.

There were separation of government of Probolinggo city (kotapraja) and regency based on Ordonantie dated 20 June 1918.

[15] The city (under Japanese rule, the level was called shi) mayor (shico) was Gapar Wiryosudibyo, a middle school teacher, while the regency (ken) regent was Nyais Wiryosubroto.

[3] The table also includes the number of administrative villages (all classed as urban kelurahan) in each district and its postal codes.

The city (and the regency) is served by Bayuangga bus station that covers routes to Surabaya, Malang, and Jember.

In a more complete census in 1930, in Probolinggo there were 85,257 bumiputera (mostly Madurese and Javanese), 3,179 Chinese, 483 other Far eastern ethnics, and 952 Europeans.