Adelanto is a city in San Bernardino County, California about 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Victorville. The population was 31,765 at the 2010 census, up from 18,130 at the 2000 census.

The name Adelanto means progress or advance in Spanish, and was first given to the post office that was established on the site in 1917. Adelanto is alphabetically first among all of California's incorporated cities.

Adelanto was founded in 1915 by E. H. Richardson, the inventor of what became the Hotpoint Electric Iron. He sold his patent and purchased land for $75,000. He had planned to develop one of the first planned communities in Southern California. Richardson subdivided his land into one-acre plots, which he hoped to sell to veterans with respiratory ailments suffered during World War I. He also hoped to build a respiratory hospital. Richardson never fully realized his dream, but his planning laid the foundation for what is currently the City of Adelanto.

Acres of deciduous fruit trees once grew in the city, which became known in the state for its fresh fruit and cider. The orchards thrived until the Great Depression, when they were replaced by poultry ranches. As the wartime emergency developed early in 1941, the Victorville Army Air Field was established with land within the Adelanto sphere of influence. In September 1950, the air field was named George Air Force Base in honor of the late Brigadier General Harold H. George.