Rowland Heights is a relatively affluent unincorporated community and census-designated place of 13.1 square miles, located in and below the Puente Hills in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population of the census designated place was 48,993 at the 2010 census, up from 48,553 at the 2000 census. Because Rowland Heights is an unincorporated community instead of an incorporated city, it is dependent upon County of Los Angeles representation.