Food item selection by coyotes (Canis latrans), a generalist forager, is largely determined by local item availability, which can be significantly altered by human activities such as urbanization. We compared coyote food item use among areas within three urbanization zones: urban, peri-urban, and non-urban. Rodents were primary food items (>10% frequency of occurrence in scats) in all zones but consisted of California ground squirrels and gophers in the urban and peri-urban zones and of gophers, kangaroo rats, and deer mice in the non-urban zone. Leporids also were a primary item in all zones but likely consisted of mostly black-tailed jackrabbits in the non-urban zone, jackrabbits and desert cottontails in the peri-urban zone, and mostly desert cottontails in the urban zone. Invertebrates consisting primarily of darkling beetles were a primary item in the urban and peri-urban zones. Unidentified birds were a primary item in the urban and non-urban zones and honey mesquite was a primary item in the non-urban zone. Anthropogenic items occurred relatively frequently in the peri-urban (grapes) and urban (trash) zones. Our results document transitional foraging patterns by coyotes in response to food availability mediated by urbanization and elucidate adaptive responses that facilitate coyote persistence in anthropogenically altered landscapes.