Cottonwood, California
22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Redding census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96022. The Survey maps it on the Cottonwood quadrangle. 6,268 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 433 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1890 to 1979The same ground, surveyed 89 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Cottonwood
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 2 records
Cottonwood Historic Districtlisted 1973
Reading Adobe Sitelisted 1971
Population over time
2 figuresCottonwood grew from 3,316 to 6,268 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 | 3,316 | |
| 2020 | 6,268 | +2,952 (+89%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 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.
- 1890 USGS Red Bluff quadrangle1:250000
- 1894 USGS Red Bluff quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1947 USGS Anderson quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Anderson quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Redding quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1965 USGS Cottonwood quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1979 USGS Red Bluff quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
618 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 618 fires within 5 miles of Cottonwood between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,469 acres in total. 13 started naturally. 58 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 | 200 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 184 |
| Debris and open burning | 79 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 58 |
| Smoking | 40 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 |
| Natural | 13 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Fireworks | 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 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Shasta-Trinity Unit | HAWES RD / KIMBERLY RD |
| 9 September 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Shasta-Trinity Unit | COTTONWOOD #2 |
| 9 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Shasta-Trinity Unit | PANORAMA |
| 9 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Shasta-Trinity Unit | RHONDA #2 |
| 8 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Shasta-Trinity Unit | LONG BRANCH DR COTTONWOO |
| 8 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Shasta-Trinity Unit | VALLEY |
| 7 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Tehama-Glenn Unit | ANTELOPE |
| 7 September 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Tehama-Glenn Unit | REEDS |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 13 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Cottonwood: 9 producers, 3 occurrences, 1 unknown. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Platinum, Osmium, Iridium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonwood Creek | Gold, Platinum, Osmium, Iridium | Producer | Stream Placer | |
| Cottonwood Creek | Gold, PGE | Unknown | ||
| Dredge Tailings | Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Anderson Creek Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Cottonwood Creek Bar | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Cottonwood Creek Pit #1 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Cottonwood Creek Pit #2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Cottonwood Creek Pit #3 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Cottonwood Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Hooker Creek Bar | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cottonwood in 10 storm reports between 2000 and 2023: 7 flood, 2 hail, 1 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2023 | Flood | Cottonwood | $30,000 | California Highway Patrol reported water overflowing the roadway and going into houses at Main Street and Trefoil Lane. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Cottonwood | - | California Highway Patrol reported substantial flooding across the roadway, leading to the closure of the roadway near Gas Point Road and Park Drive. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Cottonwood | - | California Highway Patrol reported substantial flooding across the roadway, leading to the closure of the roadway near Gas Point Road and Park Drive. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Cottonwood | - | California Highway Patrol reported substantial flooding across the roadway, leading to the closure of the roadway near Gas Point Road and Park Drive. |
| April 2019 | Flood | Cottonwood | - | Gas Point Road off-ramp at Highway 5 South, west bound land reported flooded. |
| September 2014 | Flood | Cottonwood | - | CHP reported roadway flooding near Panorama Pt. Rd. and Balls Ferry Rd. |
| March 2009 | Hail | Cottonwood | - | CHP reported up to 2 inches of hail covering Interstate 5. |
| July 2000 | Heavy Rain | Cottonwood | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Flood | Cottonwood | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Cottonwood | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonwood Estates | 0.4 miles | 22 | |
| Anderson | 4.4 miles | 22 | |
| Balls Ferry Fishing Resort | 5.1 miles | 23 | |
| El Rio Estates | 6.0 miles | 22 | |
| Olinda | 7.8 miles | 25 | |
| Pacheco | 9.2 miles | 31 | |
| Girvan | 10.2 miles | 29 | |
| Cloverdale | 12.0 miles | 25 |
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 Cottonwood | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2195685 | 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 277493. 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.






