(Central Wintun) and Southern Yana people inhabited Red Bluff Originally
native population died in a malaria epidemic or smallpox epidemic brought by trappers in the early 1830s, shortly before white settlers arrived in the 1840s.
On April 10, 1828, Jedediah Smith passed through on the way to Oregon. In 1843 Peter Lassen, John Bidwell, and John Burheim came in pursuit of horse thieves
The first house where Red Bluff now is was an adobe put up late in 1849 by John Myers, who conducted it for a short time as a hotel. In the following spring Mr. Cooper erected a small adobe there, and A.M. Dibble built another at the "Adobe" Ferry, one mile (1.6 km) north. This adobe has been incorrectly associated with William B. Ide, whose home was south of Red Bluff. Settlement began in 1850 when Sashel Woods and Charles L. Wilson began laying out a town called Leodocia. It was known by that name and Covertsburg until 1854, when maps showed the community as Red Bluffs.

11,366 (80.7%) White,
128 (0.9%) African American,
438 (3.1%) Native American,
187 (1.3%) Asian,
16 (0.1%) Pacific Islander,
1,168 (8.3%) from other races, and 773 (5.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3,037 persons (21.6%)

The Census reported
96.9% lived in households,
(1.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters,
(2.1%) were institutionalized.