The area is a largely arid desert with few shrubs and cacti. Most of the land is too dry for farming, making cattle ranching a more preferable choice. Crime – particularly in the form of outlaw gangs – is prevalent, and so danger is common. The region consists of wide-open desert plains and low lying hills with small rocky canyons and cliffs with jagged peaks. Trees are almost non-existent. The largest source of water in the region is Lake Don Julio to the south.
The capital is the town of Armadillo; once a small and diseased village in the 1890s, it has grown to be the largest and most well-known location in the entire state of New Austin by 1911. Aside from Armadillo, the county is mostly rural, littered with a few small ranches and a single train station.
The Cholla Springs is heavily based on Sonoran Desert region in Southwest Arizona and Southeast California, especially the saguaro cactus, which is native in the Sonoran Desert.
This region is likely named after the real-world Cholla Cactus, which can be seen throughout the New Austin and Nuevo Paraíso territories in-game.
Cholla Springs is the largest constituent region in the game.
In Spanish, Cholla means "head" or "ball" or uncommonly as slang for "woman".
A reference to the region is made in Grand Theft Auto V, as there is a road in Sandy Shores that runs adjacent to one of the protagonist's homes called "Cholla Springs Avenue."
In the mission "Justice in Pike's Basin", it is implied by Eli in the final cutscene that Cholla Springs is a county. This would make it the one of the few regions to have confirmed county status, along side Lemoyne's Scarlett Meadows and New Austin's Río Bravo.