BlockBefore

Nicolaus, California

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1910 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the South Sutter census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95659. It stands on Ping Slough. The Survey maps it on the Nicolaus quadrangle. 176 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 26 feet above sea level.

Nicolaus within Sutter County

Then and now

1910 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 84 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Nicolaus, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Nicolaus, surveyed 1910

Population over time

2 figures

Nicolaus fell from 211 to 176 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.

YearPeople Change
2010211
2020176-35 (-17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 20 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

47 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 47 fires within 5 miles of Nicolaus between 1996 and 2018, burning about 40 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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/undetermined35
Equipment and vehicle use5
Debris and open burning2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Arson/incendiarism1
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
18 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
13 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
4 August 1996Debris and open burningunder an acreNevada-Yuba-Placer UnitTENYEAR
30 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
22 August 2017Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sutter County

Storms near this place

4 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Nicolaus in 4 storm reports between 2009 and 2025: 2 flood, 1 heavy rain, 1 funnel cloud. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2025FloodNicolaus-California Highway Patrol reported the canal flooded the bridge on Kirksville Road, making it impassable. One person drove their car into the high waters and became stranded, requiring a water rescue.
December 2021FloodEast Nicolaus-California highway patrol reported roadway flooding at the intersection of highway 70 E. Reported storm total rainfall amounts in the area were in excess of 3 inches.
February 2017Funnel CloudNicolaus-A funnel cloud was sited near Nicolaus. No touch down was observed, or damage reported.
March 2009Heavy RainNicolaus-Minor flooding of rural county roads.

Every storm recorded in Sutter County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
East Nicolaus1.8 miles20
Chandler (historical)2.5 miles20
Trowbridge2.8 miles20
Striplin (historical)3.1 miles20
Cornelius (historical)3.1 miles20
Marcuse (historical)4.2 miles20
Rio Oso4.4 miles20
Catlett4.5 miles20

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 NicolausAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3476156The 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 229546. 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.

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.