Biggs, California
22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Biggs census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95917. The Survey maps it on the Biggs quadrangle. 1,964 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 98 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1888 to 1993The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresBiggs grew from 1,707 to 1,964 between 2010 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,707 | |
| 2020 | 1,964 | +257 (+15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 22 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.
- 1888 USGS Marysville quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Marysville quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Marysville quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Marysville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1912 USGS Biggs quadrangle1:31680
- 1952 USGS Biggs quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1952 USGS Gridley quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Biggs quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1993 USGS Yuba City quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
583 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 583 fires within 5 miles of Biggs between 1992 and 2020, burning about 8,247 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 50 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 | 232 |
| Debris and open burning | 133 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 125 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 50 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 18 |
| Smoking | 15 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2006 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Butte Unit | CHATFIELD |
| 9 September 1996 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Butte Unit | PAMMA,G |
| 8 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Butte Unit | GRIDLEY FARM LABOR CAMP G |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Butte Unit | BIGGS |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Butte Unit | BONITO |
| 7 September 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Butte Unit | HAMILTON |
| 6 September 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Butte Unit | OREGON |
| 5 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Butte Unit | HWY 70 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 18 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Biggs: 7 producers, 6 occurrences, 5 unknowns. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woods Pit & Mill | Stone | Producer | ||
| Butte County Gravel Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Cooper Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gridley Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Mathews Roy | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Mcfarland Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Oroville Wildlife Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Robinson Construction Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Vance Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gold Hill Dredging Company | Gold | Occurrence | Placer |
Storms near this place
5 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Biggs in 5 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 3 flood, 1 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1993 | Tornado (F1) | Biggs | $50,000 | A barn roof was tossed 75 feet and 2 vehicles were damaged by the tornado. |
| November 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Biggs | $20,000 | Trees and power lines were knocked down in east Biggs by winds from a microburst. The California Highway Patrol, Cal Fire-Butte County and Pacific Gas and Electric responded to reports of downed power lines on Dos Rios Road in East Biggs. PG&Es outage map indicated that about 104 residences were affected by the outage as late as 5 p.m. Sunday. |
| November 2024 | Flood | Biggs | - | California Highway Patrol reported multiple vehicles stuck in water on the road at Colusa Highway and Cherokee Canal Road due to heavy rain. |
| November 2024 | Flood | Biggs | - | California Highway Patrol reported the road closure of Highway 99 between State Route 162 and State Route 149 due to roadway flooding from heavy rain. |
| December 2012 | Flood | Biggs | - | A series of consecutive heavy rainfall events caused creeks and streams to rise rapidly due to ground saturation. A spotter reported flooding in the Butte Sink area along the Butte and Colusa County border. Approximately 4 inches of water has accumulated over the Gridley Rd-Colusa Hwy roadway, which has closed the road. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riceton | 2.6 miles | 22 | |
| East Biggs | 3.1 miles | 22 | |
| Peachton | 3.5 miles | 22 | |
| Gridley | 3.5 miles | 22 | |
| Hume (historical) | 3.5 miles | 22 | |
| Richland (historical) | 3.7 miles | 22 | |
| Haselbusch (historical) | 4.1 miles | 22 | |
| East Gridley | 4.3 miles | 22 |
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 Biggs | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2902454 | 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 277474. 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.










