Clay, California
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Galt census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95638. It stands on Browns Creek. The Survey maps it on the Clay quadrangle. 1,252 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 135 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1894 to 1993The same ground, surveyed 99 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 figuresClay grew from 1,195 to 1,252 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 | 1,195 | |
| 2020 | 1,252 | +57 (+5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 25 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.
- 1894 USGS Lodi quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1909 USGS Clay quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Clay quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1968 USGS Clay quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
- 1993 USGS Lodi quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
84 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 84 fires within 5 miles of Clay between 1992 and 2018, burning about 3,800 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 | 43 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 25 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Amador-El Dorado Unit | PROUTY |
| 26 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 102 acres | Amador-El Dorado Unit | TWIN |
| 25 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | RANCHO |
| 24 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8.0 acres | Amador-El Dorado Unit | CLAY |
| 15 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | KIRKWOOD ST / BESKEEN RD |
| 15 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Amador-El Dorado Unit | CLAY STATION RD / TWIN CI |
| 13 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 acres | Amador-El Dorado Unit | CLAY |
| 12 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | CLAY STATION RD / HY 104 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Clay: 1 producer, 1 prospect, 1 unknown, 1 occurrence. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borrow Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Prospect | ||
| Placer Deposits | Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Sloughhouse | Gold | Unknown |
Storms near this place
1 since 2023Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clay in 1 storm report in 2023: 1 tornado. 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 2023 | Tornado (EF0) | Clay | $25,000 | A brief, weak tornado touched down and caused damage to 3 residences along Kirkwood Street to the east of Herald. Roof damage to two garages was observed. An RV shelter and dog kennels were lifted up off the ground and sustained damage. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cicero (historical) | 1.4 miles | 25 | |
| Conley (historical) | 4.5 miles | 25 | |
| Centralia | 4.6 miles | 25 | |
| Herald | 5.3 miles | 25 | |
| Walmort | 5.4 miles | 22 | |
| Dillard | 6.9 miles | 26 | |
| Wilton | 7.9 miles | 26 | |
| Twin Cities | 8.6 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 Clay | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5129810 | 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 252649. 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.








