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Founded on December 22, 1871, by prominent grain farmer John William Mitchell, the town consisted of a post office, a depot, a grain warehouse and a few other buildings. Mitchell declined the honor of having the town named for himself. The name "Turlock" was then chosen instead. The name is believed to originate from the Irish village Turlough. In October 1870, Harper's Weekly published an excerpt from English novelist James Payn's story Bred in the Bone, which includes the mention of a town named "Turlough" (translated from Gaelic as "Turlock"). Local historians believe that the issue of Harper's Weekly was read by early resident H.W. Lander, who suggested the alternate name.

Mitchell and his brother were successful businessmen, buying land and developing large herds of cattle and sheep that were sold to gold miners and others as they arrived. They were also leaders in wheat farming and cultivated tracts of land under the tenant system. Eventually, the Mitchells owned most of the area, over 100,000 acres, from Keyes to Atwater. In the early 20th century, 20-acre lots from the Mitchell estate were sold for $20 an acre.

While it grew to be a relatively prosperous and busy hub of activity throughout the end of the 19th century, it was not incorporated as a city until February 15, 1908. By that time intensive agricultural development surrounded most of the city (agriculture remains the major economic force in the region in current times). Many of the initial migrants to the region were Swedish. As an early San Francisco Chronicle article stated of the region and the community's lacteal productivity, "you have to hand it to the Scandinavians for knowing how to run a dairy farm."

Turlock went on to become known as the "Heart of the Valley" because of its agricultural production. With the boom came racial and labor strife. In July 1921, a mob of 150 white men evicted 60 Japanese cantaloupe pickers from rooming houses and ranches near Turlock, taking them and their belongings on trucks out of town. The white men claimed the Japanese were undercutting white workers by taking lower wages per crate of fruit picked. In protest, fruit growers briefly threatened not to hire the white workers behind the eviction, preferring to let melons rot on vines to hiring such characters. As a result of this stance, the eviction had the opposite effect of what the mob had intended. By August, Japanese workers had returned and, were nearly the only people employed to pick melons.

The affair gained national attention, and California Governor William Stephens vowed that justice would be served. Six men were quickly arrested but were apparently untroubled by the charges, stating that leaders of Turlock's American Legion and Chamber of Commerce had told them that no trouble would come of their actions. Although a former Turlock night watchman testified that one of the accused had disclosed a plan "to clean up Turlock of the Japs," all of the arrested were acquitted.

The editorial line of the San Francisco Chronicle opposed both the evictions and Japanese labor, with one column stating that "we in California are determined that Oriental workers shall be kept out of the state. But that does not mean that the decent citizens of California will tolerate for one moment such proceedings as the attack of a mob on the Japanese cantaloupe workers in the Turlock district."

In 1930, Turlock's population was 20% Assyrian. They were such a significant part of the population that the southern part of town even became referred to as Little Urmia, referring to the region of northwestern Iran from most had come. In the 1930s, Turlock was cited by Ripley's Believe It or Not as having the most churches per capita in the US, which had partly to do with the variety of ethnic churches established for the relatively small settler population. Various religious centers reflecting a diverse population, such as Sikh Gurdwaras, various Assyrian Christian churches, and many mainline Protestant, Mormon and Roman Catholic churches have been built.

During World War II, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US government placed Japanese Americans into concentration camps all over the country. The Stanislaus County Fairgrounds was the site of one of 15 temporary "assembly centers" and held 3,669 Japanese Americans, most of whom were US citizens. The US Army also built the Ballico Auxiliary Field (1942–1946) for training pilots in Turlock.

Turlock experienced extensive growth of both residential and commercial areas in the 1980s, following a statewide boom in housing demand and construction. The housing boom of the 1980s diminished in the early 1990s but increased again in the second half of the decade, partly as a result of San Francisco Bay Area growth, which placed a higher demand for more affordable housing in outlying areas. After the dot-com bust, housing demand intensified, producing higher house prices in an area formerly known for affordable housing. A recent boom in the retail sector has produced considerable growth along the Highway 99 corridor. The city reached its northern urban growth boundary, Taylor Road, in the late 1990s, and growth beyond it is restricted by the city's Master Plan.^{[citation needed]}

The 2010 United States Census reported that Turlock had a population of 69,733. The population density was 4,049.4 people per square mile (1,563.5/km²). The racial makeup of Turlock was 47,864 (69.8%) White, 1,160 (1.7%) African American, 601 (0.9%) Native American, 3,865 (5.6%) Asian, 313 (0.5%) Pacific Islander, 11,328 (16.5%) from other races, and 3,418 (5.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 24,957 persons (36.4%). The Census reported that 67,342 people (98.2% of the population) lived in households, 687 (1.0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 520 (0.8%) were institutionalized.

There were 22,772 households, out of which 9,339 (41.0%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 12,055 (52.9%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,161 (13.9%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,453 (6.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,387 (6.1%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 153 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 4,755 households (20.9%) were made up of individuals, and 2,058 (9.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96. There were 16,669 families (73.2% of all households); the average family size was 3.45. The population was spread out, with 18,820 people (27.5%) under the age of 18, 8,087 people (11.8%) aged 18 to 24, 18,313 people (26.7%) aged 25 to 44, 15,317 people (22.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 8,012 people (11.7%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males.

There were 24,627 housing units at an average density of 1,454.8 per square mile (561.7/km²), of which 12,622 (55.4%) were owner-occupied, and 10,150 (44.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.6%; the rental vacancy rate was 9.0%. 37,867 people (55.2% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 29,475 people (43.0%) lived in rental housing units.

As of the United States 2000 Census, there were 55,810 people, 18,408 households, and 13,434 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,194.7 people per square mile (1,620.2/km²). There were 19,095 housing units at an average density of 1,435.2 per square mile (554.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 72.3% White, 1.4% African American, 0.9% Native American, 4.5% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 15.2% from other races, and 5.4% from two or more races. 29.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

4.9% of Turlock's population reported ancestry in the category Assyrian. This was the fourth highest percentage in the United States for this category, the highest for a community outside of Oakland County, Michigan and the only one of the top seven places in this category that was not one of Detroit's northern suburbs.

There were 18,408 households, out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.8% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.0% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.42. In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.8% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $39,050, and the median income for a family was $44,501. Males had a median income of $35,801 versus $27,181 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,844. 16.2% of the population and 12.4% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 18.8% of those under the age of 18 and 9.8% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Culturally, the area is home to large concentrations of Americans of South Asian descent (particularly Sikhs), Mexican-Americans, and people of varied European descent. Swedes and Portuguese were early settlers to the area. Continued immigration from the Azores Islands (Portugal) in recent decades has established a large Portuguese-speaking community within the city. Turlock is a major center for the Assyrian community in the United States, who began to arrive in the 1910s seeking opportunities in farming. By 1924 the Assyrian Evangelical Church was established and by the 1950s, 8% of the population of Turlock was Assyrian. There was an increased influx into Turlock in the 1970s following political strife in Iraq and in the 1980s following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.^{[citation needed]}