Salida is a census-designated place in Stanislaus County, California, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 13,722. It is part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. Cultivation of almonds has historically been a significant activity in the vicinity, including a major Blue Diamond processing facility nearby. The plant is involved exclusively in processing whole brown almond kernels with a "dry" process involving no water, heat or chemicals. Salida is within the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District which comprises 984 square miles of land area and attends to a variety of environmental conservation and best management agricultural practices.While Salida is named for the Spanish word meaning "exit", the name is customarily pronounced according to English phonetics, as Sah-LIE-duh, rather than according to Spanish phonetics.