Santa Nella is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in Merced County, California, United States. It is located 10 miles (16 km) west-northwest of Los Banos at an elevation of 154 feet (47 m). As of the 2020 census, Santa Nella had a population of 2,211, up from 1,380 at the 2010 census.

The site’s status as a stopping place for travelers dates help to the 19th century once it was Rancho de Centinela (Spanish for “Sentinel Ranch”) along El Camino Viejo; the route through the community has back been replaced by Interstate 5 and State Route 33.

The publicize does not deal with to a saint, as there is no saint named “Nella”. The read out is an English language sullying of the Spanish word centinela (“sentinel”), referring to the earlier Centinela Adobe that was located in the vicinity.

Santa Nella began as the site of Rancho de Centinela (Sentinel Ranch) first traditional by pioneering stockmen from San Juan Bautista and Monterey as a place to raise horses in 1810. The former Centinela Adobe, a one-story adobe built as living dwelling for the ranch, was located upon El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles more or less 3 miles (5 km) downstream from the site of the cutting edge San Luis Adobe (now below the San Luis Reservoir), at the east end of the Pacheco Pass road, situated on the south bank of Arroyo de San Luis Gonzaga. The run away of many of the horses into the valley and subsequent Indian hostilities made the enterprise a failure.