Albany, California
40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1895 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Berkeley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94706. It stands on Codornices Creek. The Survey maps it on the Richmond quadrangle. 20,271 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 43 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1895 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Albany
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
Peterson Houselisted 1982
Population over time
12 figuresAlbany grew from 808 to 20,271 between 1910 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1910 | 808 | |
| 1920 | 2,462 | +1,654 (+205%) |
| 1930 | 8,569 | +6,107 (+248%) |
| 1940 | 11,493 | +2,924 (+34%) |
| 1950 | 17,590 | +6,097 (+53%) |
| 1960 | 14,804 | -2,786 (-16%) |
| 1970 | 15,561 | +757 (+5%) |
| 1980 | 15,130 | -431 (-3%) |
| 1990 | 16,327 | +1,197 (+8%) |
| 2000 | 16,444 | +117 (+1%) |
| 2010 | 18,539 | +2,095 (+13%) |
| 2020 | 20,271 | +1,732 (+9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
19 surveys from 40 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1895 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:62500, 7 printings
- 1915 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1947 USGS Richmond quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Richmond quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Richmond quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS Richmond quadrangle1:24000
- 1995 USGS Richmond quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
195 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 195 fires within 5 miles of Albany between 1992 and 2020, burning about 156 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 11 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 141 |
| Smoking | 13 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 11 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
| 6 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | ANZA |
| 5 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Santa Clara Unit | HALLOCK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 32 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 32 workings within 5 miles of Albany: 14 occurrences, 7 past producers, 5 producers, 3 unknowns. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Mercury, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Hills | Sulfur-Pyrite, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Pyrite | |
| Richfield Oil Co. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Prospect | ||
| Richmond Mill | Limestone, General | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Asbestos | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Location | Asbestos | Occurrence | ||
| Berkeley Hills | Lead | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Location | Lead | Occurrence | ||
| Ada Sand and Gravel Pit No 2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Moller Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
6 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Albany in 6 storm reports between 2010 and 2025: 5 flood, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2011 | Lightning | Albany | $3,000 | Pickup truck was struck by lightning. Electrical system was knocked out in the truck. |
| December 2025 | Flood | Albany | - | Around 1 foot of water was reported on the onramp from Buchanan Street to westbound Interstate 80. |
| January 2024 | Flood | Albany | - | Three inches of water blocked the number 1 lane of WB Interstate 80 at Buchanan. Six inches of water blocked the onramp to WB Interstate 80 at Buchanan. |
| January 2019 | Flood | Albany | - | Flooding at I 580W and Central Ave off ramp, off ramp completely flooded. |
| January 2016 | Flood | Albany | - | CHP reported that I-80 East at El Portal Drive was flooded. The HOV lane was flooded and water was flowing across all lanes. |
| January 2010 | Flood | Albany | - | Heavy rain caused knee-deep flooding at the intersections of Second and Harrison Streets in Berkeley. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Village | 0.2 miles | 40 | |
| Westbrae | 0.7 miles | 40 | |
| West Berkeley | 0.9 miles | 37 | |
| Thousand Oaks | 1.1 miles | 40 | |
| Berkeley | 1.7 miles | 37 | |
| Normandy Village | 1.9 miles | 40 | |
| Cragmont | 1.9 miles | 40 | |
| La Loma Park | 2.1 miles | 40 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Albany | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q671480 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1657902. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.


















