Boulevard is a small, unincorporated census-designated place in southeastern San Diego County, California, set in the rural high desert that stretches toward the Mexican border. With roughly 360 residents recorded in the 2020 census, it is one of the county's most sparsely populated backcountry communities, occupying a low-density landscape where desert scrub gives way to the foothills of the Laguna Mountains. The community lies along the corridor of old U.S. Route 80, the historic transcontinental highway that once carried travelers from San Diego east across the desert toward Yuma, Arizona. Today Interstate 8 serves that role, but Boulevard remains part of a string of small mountain-and-desert settlements—Pine Valley, Boulevard, and Jacumba Hot Springs—that trace the old road. The Boulevard area also encompasses the smaller community of Manzanita, reflecting the dispersed settlement pattern of the region. Boulevard's character is defined by open space and distance rather than density. Homes and ranches sit on large lots amid high-desert vegetation, and the community functions as a quiet residential outpost for those seeking rural living while remaining within reach of San Diego to the west and the Imperial Valley to the east. Services are limited locally, so residents typically travel for shopping and employment. Public education is provided by the Mountain Empire Unified School District, a backcountry district that serves the mountain and desert communities of eastern San Diego County. The nearby Desert View Tower, built in 1922 as a tribute to early pioneers, and the former resort community of Jacumba Hot Springs reflect the area's history as a stopping point along the old highway.