Tomales, California
29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Northwest Marin census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94971. It stands on Keys Creek. The Survey maps it on the Tomales quadrangle. 187 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 89 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1916 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 79 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1916 against another survey:
On record in Tomales
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
Tomales Presbyterian Church and Cemeterylisted 1975
Population over time
2 figuresTomales fell from 204 to 187 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 | 204 | |
| 2020 | 187 | -17 (-8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 29 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.
- 1916 USGS Point Reyes quadrangle1:48000
- 1916 USGS Point Reyes quadrangle1:62500
- 1918 USGS Point Reyes quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1947 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Point Reyes quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Tomales quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 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 Tomales quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
25 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 25 fires within 5 miles of Tomales between 1994 and 2020, burning about 25 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 12 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | FORD |
| 16 September 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Marin County Fire Department | VALLEY FORD RD BLOOMFIEL |
| 27 August 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6.0 acres | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | ESTERO |
| 23 August 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Point Reyes National Seashore | CYPRUS |
| 21 August 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | MORO |
| 20 August 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Point Reyes National Seashore | HUT |
| 15 August 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | not named |
| 9 July 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | FALLON TWO ROCK RD OOJ |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Tomales: 2 occurrences, 2 producers, 1 unknown, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Limestone, General. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken, Limestone, General | Occurrence | Limestone | |
| Unnamed Quarry | Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Dillon Beach Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Prospect | ||
| Martinoni Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Tomales Point | Gold | Occurrence | Beach Placer | |
| Tomales Point | Gold | Unknown |
Storms near this place
6 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tomales in 6 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 5 flood, 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 1996 | Tornado (F1) | Tomales | $200,000 | no account filed |
| February 2024 | Flood | Tomales | - | Roadway flooding was reported on California Highway 1 at Tomales-Petaluma Road. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Tomales | - | Flooding at Shoreline Hwy intersection with Bay Rd, vehicle stalled in 2 feet of water in roadway. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Tomales | - | Vehicle stuck in water flooding lanes southbound CA-1 and Tomales Rd. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Tomales | - | Marin Fire Department is retrieving a driver stuck in the water at Hwy 1 and Tomales Rd. |
| January 2017 | Flood | Tomales | - | Closure of Hwy 1 at Tomales Rd due to flooding. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fallon | 2.0 miles | 18 | |
| Ocean Roar | 2.3 miles | 29 | |
| Vincent Landing | 2.7 miles | 29 | |
| Hamlet | 2.9 miles | 29 | |
| Dillon Beach | 3.2 miles | 18 | |
| Nicks Cove | 3.3 miles | 29 | |
| Blakes Landing | 3.7 miles | 29 | |
| McDonald | 4.0 miles | 29 |
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 Tomales | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2203740 | 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 236439. 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.











