Sierra City, California
26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 2000. It stands in the West Sierra census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96125. It lies near Hackmans Ravine. The Survey maps it on the Sierra City quadrangle. 235 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,407 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1891 to 2000The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Sierra City
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
- Sierra City Schoollisted 2024
Population over time
2 figuresSierra City grew from 221 to 235 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 | 221 | |
| 2020 | 235 | +14 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 26 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.
- 1891 USGS Downieville quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Downieville quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Downieville quadrangle1:125000
- 1896 USGS Downieville quadrangle1:125000
- 1897 USGS Downieville quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1955 USGS Sierra City quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1979 USGS Portola quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Sierra City quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 2000 USGS Sierra City quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
76 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 76 fires within 5 miles of Sierra City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,172 acres in total. 31 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 31 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 16 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
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 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | BUTTES |
| 20 September 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | SIERRA |
| 2 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | AHART |
| 19 September 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | CHAPMAN |
| 19 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,114 acres | Tahoe National Forest | BASSETTS |
| 14 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | SIERRA |
| 11 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | MIDDLE |
| 1 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | SIERRA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 157 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 157 workings within 5 miles of Sierra City: 74 past producers, 33 occurrences, 29 prospects, 13 unknowns. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Silver, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chipps | Gold, Molybdenum | Prospect | ||
| Lloyd and Milward | Asbestos | Occurrence | ||
| Phoenix | Gold, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Sierra Buttes | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Gold, Marcasite, Pyrite | |
| Colombo-Bullion Group | Gold, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Sovereign | Gold, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Basset Pride | Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Columbo-Bullion Group | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Copper Mine | Copper | Occurrence | Underground | |
| Devine | Gold, Silver | Past Producer |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loganville | 1.8 miles | 26 | |
| Middle Waters (historical) | 3.8 miles | 26 | |
| Milton (historical) | 4.0 miles | 27 | |
| Bassetts | 4.5 miles | 27 | |
| Carvin Creek Homesites | 5.2 miles | 28 | |
| Haskell Creek Homesites | 6.4 miles | 28 | |
| Clark Station Homesites | 7.2 miles | 27 | |
| American Hill (historical) | 8.7 miles | 33 |
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 Sierra City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6645107 | 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 1659662. 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.










