Cima is a small unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 community in the Mojave Desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

 of San Bernardino County

San Bernardino County, California

San Bernardino County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,035,210, up from 1,709,434 as of the 2000 census...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Few people live in the area. Cima is located in the south, upland of the Ivanpah Valley

Ivanpah Valley

The Ivanpah Valley is in southeastern California and southern Nevada in the United States. The valley is between the New York Mountains and the Ivanpah Mountains in San Bernardino County on the California side, and in Clark County on the Nevada side. The communities of Cima, California, Nipton,...

, south of the Ivanpah Mountains

Ivanpah Mountains

The Ivanpah Mountains are located in the southeastern Mojave Desert of California in the United States. The range lies to the south and east of the Mescal Range and west of the Ivanpah Valley and New York Mountains. The mountains lie in a southwest-northeasterly direction, and are home to the...

 and Interstate 15

Interstate 15 in California

In the U.S. state of California, Interstate 15 is a major north–south route through the San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego Counties, and it has a length of in the state. It is a major thoroughfare for traffic between Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as points beyond...

, and lies at an elevation of 4175 feet (1,272.5 m); it also lies in the center north of the Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve is located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, USA, between Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, 1994 with the passage of the California Desert Protection Act by the US Congress...

, with its neighbor town of Kelso

Kelso, California

Kelso is a ghost town and defunct railroad depot in the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County, California, USA. It was named after a railroad worker who won a contest to have the town named after him...

, in the preserve just southwest. Cima was founded circa 1906, and served as a railroad siding and a commercial center for ranchers and miners. It is now usually considered a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

.

Average high temperature in July is 93 °F (33.9 °C) with an average low of 67°. January averages are 51 °F (10.6 °C) and 29F°. The highest temperature on record is 110 °F (43.3 °C) in 1967, with a low temperature of -2 °F recorded in 1972. Cima receives less than 10 inches (254 mm) of rain in an average year. Cima lies to the southeast of the Cima Dome & Volcanic Field National Natural Landmark

Cima Dome & Volcanic Field National Natural Landmark

The Cima Dome & Volcanic Field National Natural Landmark, or Cinder Cones National Natural Landmark, includes the Cima Dome, Cima Volcanic Field, and Cima Volcanic Range, and is in the Mojave Desert within San Bernardino County, California, United States.The dome and volcanic field with cinder...

, which contains Cima Dome, at 5745 feet (1,751.1 m) above sea level a prominent landmark along I-15. Between Kelso and Cima lies the Cima Grade, the steepest part of the rail line between the Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 area and Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

—the tracks rise 2000 feet (609.6 m) in 20 miles (32.2 km).

Cima has a post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

, with the ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 is 92323 and the area code 760

Area code 760

Image:Area_code_442.svg|right|Map of California area codes in blue with 442/760 in redrect 65 82 92 100 Area code 916rect 220 242 245 256 Area code 909rect 243 274 265 287 Area code 951rect 136 323 160 338 Area code 858...

. The 92323 ZIP Code Tabulation Area

ZIP Code Tabulation Area

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are statistical entities developed by the United States Census Bureau for tabulating summary statistics from Census 2000. This new entity was developed to overcome the difficulties in precisely defining the land area covered by each ZIP code...

 had a population of 21 at the 2000 census.