Prunedale, CA Real Estate Information Center

Prunedale is a census-designated place in Monterey County, California, United States. Prunedale is located 8 miles (13 km) north of Salinas, at an elevation of 92 feet (28 m). The population was 7600 residents at the time of the 2000 census. But the sign now reads 10,897 as of 2008. Plum trees were grown in Prunedale in the early days of its founding but the trees died soon after due to poor irrigation and fertilizer. Some locals on occasion call the area "Prunetucky." The origin of this term references the often unkind but sometimes true stereotypical characteristics of the populace, which had a large population of Dust Bowl migrants from the Rural Midwestern and Southern United States ("Okies," et al.).