Occidental, California
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Russian River-Sonoma Coast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95472. It stands on Lancel Creek. The Survey maps it on the Camp Meeker quadrangle. 1,132 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 594 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1935 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 60 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1935 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresOccidental grew from 1,115 to 1,132 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 | 1,115 | |
| 2020 | 1,132 | +17 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 20 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.
- 1935 USGS Sebastopol quadrangle1:48000
- 1942 USGS Sebastopol quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Camp Meeker quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Sebastopol quadrangle1:62500
- 1958 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Napa quadrangle1:100000
- 1995 USGS Camp Meeker quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
243 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 243 fires within 5 miles of Occidental between 1992 and 2020, burning about 139 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 11 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 | 81 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 72 |
| Debris and open burning | 41 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 11 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | BARNETT |
| 6 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | BODEGA |
| 6 September 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | GRATON |
| 5 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | GREEN #3 |
| 5 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | BARNETT |
| 4 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | BARNETT |
| 4 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 4 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | WHITEMAN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 24 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 24 workings within 5 miles of Occidental: 10 unknowns, 8 occurrences, 4 producers, 2 past producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Chromium, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Mercury, Copper. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altamont Copper Group | Mercury, Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Location | Garnet | Unknown | ||
| Burl Howell Quarry | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Clark Quarry | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Altamont | Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Altamont | Copper, Mercury | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Location | Copper | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Location | Mercury | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Mercury | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Mercury | Unknown |
Storms near this place
6 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Occidental in 6 storm reports between 2011 and 2019: 2 heavy rain, 2 hail, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2011 | Heavy Rain | Occidental | $25,000 | Pre-dawn downpours caused localized small stream flooding in some areas in central Sonoma County. Those of note were Todd Road west of Stony Point Road outside of Santa Rosa, and Green Hill Road near Ross Road in Granton, where a man drove into the high water and became stuck for a time just after 7:00 a.m. PST. Flooding also caused the closure of Green Valley Road near Sullivan Road, where another vehicle stalled in the high water, and made a pond out of Shiloh Road near Windsor Road. Minor rock and mud slides were reported throughout the area between Santa Rosa and Calistoga. |
| February 2019 | Debris Flow | Occidental | - | KGO is reporting a mud slide that hs closed the Bohemian Hwy in both directions, trapping people and possibly damaging two homes. |
| February 2019 | Debris Flow | Occidental | - | Mud slide and trees blocking roadway at Bohemian Hwy and Scouts Camp Rd. |
| December 2014 | Heavy Rain | Occidental | - | Spotter measures rainfall total from 5:00 PM December 10 through 7:30 AM December 11 of 3.97 inches. |
| February 2019 | Hail | Occidental | - | no account filed |
| January 2018 | Hail | Occidental | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Meeker | 1.4 miles | 20 | |
| Alliance Redwood | 2.2 miles | 20 | |
| Freestone | 3.0 miles | 18 | |
| Tyrone | 4.0 miles | 16 | |
| Bodega | 4.5 miles | 18 | |
| Hopyard (historical) | 4.5 miles | 20 | |
| Graton | 4.6 miles | 20 | |
| Williams (historical) | 4.7 miles | 20 |
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 Occidental | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2338133 | 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 277568. 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.










