The Pala Band of Mission Indians is governed by a six-member Executive Committee. The reservation has a land area of 52.163 km² (20.140 sq mi) and reported an official resident population of 1,573 persons in the 2000 census, about 44 percent of whom were of solely Native American heritage. A total of five other federally recognized tribes of Luiseño are located in southern California and is the most populated reservation in San Diego County. Its members, the federally recognized tribe of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, are descended from both Cupeño and Luiseño peoples, who have shared territory since 1903. Historic variant names used to describe the area include Mission Indian Reservation and Mission Indian Reserve.

The Pala Indian Reservation is located in the middle of San Luis Rey River Valley in northern San Diego County, California, east of the community of Fallbrook, and has been assigned feature ID 272502. Reinforcement of first joint of caisson - NARAġ,573 reservation population (2000 US Census)