Clayton, California
27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Central Contra Costa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94517. It lies near Mitchell Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Clayton quadrangle. 11,070 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 394 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1896 to 1989The same ground, surveyed 93 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Clayton
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
- Clayton Vineyards-DeMartini Winerylisted 1984
Population over time
3 figuresClayton grew from 1,385 to 11,070 between 1970 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 1,385 | |
| 2010 | 10,897 | |
| 2020 | 11,070 | +173 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 27 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.
- 1896 USGS Mt. Diablo quadrangle1:62500
- 1898 USGS Mt. Diablo quadrangle1:62500, 7 printings
- 1943 USGS Mt. Diablo quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Clayton quadrangle1:24000, 9 printings
- 1956 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1989 USGS Stockton quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
296 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 296 fires within 5 miles of Clayton between 1992 and 2020, burning about 6,425 acres in total. None started naturally. 54 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 | 129 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 54 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 53 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 28 |
| Smoking | 19 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 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 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33 acres | Santa Clara Unit | 3-JUN |
| 8 September 2013 | Firearms and explosives use | 3,100 acres | Santa Clara Unit | MORGAN |
| 7 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | MITCHELL |
| 7 September 2010 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | KIRKER |
| 5 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
| 30 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 79 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 79 workings within 5 miles of Clayton: 25 past producers, 23 occurrences, 14 prospects, 12 producers. 12 still produce. What was taken out: Copper, Asbestos, Silver, Silica. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowell | Limestone, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| Mt. Diablo Lime Marl Co. | Limestone, General | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Silver Mine | Copper, Manganese, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Turtle Rock Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Silica, Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Unnamed Prospect | Zinc, Mercury, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Zinc, Copper, Mercury | Past Producer | ||
| Bailey Ranch Pumice Deposit | Pumice | Occurrence | ||
| Bailey Ranch Pumice Deposit | Pumice | Past Producer | ||
| Black Point | Copper, Mercury | Occurrence | Vein |
Storms near this place
4 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clayton in 4 storm reports in 2017: 2 flood, 2 debris flow. 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 2017 | Flood | Clayton | - | Marsh Creek Road at Pine Lane roadway completely flooded. |
| March 2017 | Debris Flow | Clayton | - | Mud/rock slide on Marsh Creek Road near Morgan Territory Road. Large boulders in roadway. |
| February 2017 | Flood | Clayton | - | Flooding roadway enough to cause vehicles to lose traction Kirker pass NR Hess Rd. |
| February 2017 | Debris Flow | Clayton | - | Mud slide blocking wb lane of Marsh Creek jeo Aspara. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cowell | 3.0 miles | 27 | |
| Nortonville | 3.1 miles | 27 | |
| Somersville | 3.9 miles | 29 | |
| Stewartville | 4.6 miles | 29 | |
| Meinert | 4.9 miles | 42 | |
| Marsh Creek Springs | 5.5 miles | 29 | |
| Four Corners | 5.6 miles | 42 | |
| Concord | 5.7 miles | 42 |
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 Clayton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q948168 | 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 277488. 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.








