South Lake Tahoe is a city in El Dorado County, California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The population was 23,609 at the 2000 census. The east end of the city, on the California-Nevada state line, is mainly geared towards tourism, with T-shirt shops, restaurants, hotels, and the Heavenly Ski Resort with the Nevada casinos just across the state line in Stateline, Nevada. The city extends about five miles west-southwest along highway 50, also known as Lake Tahoe Blvd. The western end of town is mainly residential, and clusters around "The Y", the X-shaped intersection of US Highway 50, state highway 89, and Lake Tahoe Boulevard after it loses its federal/state highway designation.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.5 square miles (42.7 km²), of which, 10.1 square miles (26.1 km²) of it is land and 6.4 square miles (16.7 km²) of it (39.03%) is water. Elevation is 6260 ft.
South Lake Tahoe is part of the Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
