Truckee, California
36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 2000. It stands in the Donner census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96161. It sits by Ponderosa Palisades. The Survey maps it on the Truckee quadrangle. 16,729 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,817 feet above sea level.
Research this city
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 Truckee
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 5 records
Donner CampNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Boca Damlisted 1981
Commercial Row-Brickelltown Historic Districtlisted 2009
Kruger Houselisted 1982- Truckee Veterans Memorial Buildinglisted 2021
Population over time
2 figuresTruckee grew from 16,180 to 16,729 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 | 16,180 | |
| 2020 | 16,729 | +549 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 36 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 Truckee quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1932 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:96000
- 1940 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1977 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1992 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 2000 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
274 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 274 fires within 5 miles of Truckee between 1992 and 2020, burning about 120 acres in total. 34 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 | 77 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 75 |
| Natural | 34 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 30 |
| Debris and open burning | 16 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 14 |
| Smoking | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 11 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | DONNER PASS RD TRUCKEE_F |
| 9 September 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | SAWTOOTH |
| 9 September 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | AIRPORT |
| 6 September 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | SAWTOOTH |
| 5 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | HIPPY |
| 5 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | AIRPLANE |
| 4 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7.0 acres | Santa Clara Unit | COE |
| 4 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest | GREY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Truckee: 5 producers, 1 past producer. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Pumice. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hirschdale Pit | Pumice | Producer | ||
| Red Rock Aggregates | Pumice | Producer | ||
| Cold Stream Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Martis Valley Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sha-Neva-Plant No. 2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Teichert Aggregates Truckee Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
20 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Truckee in 20 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 9 hail, 9 heavy rain, 1 flood, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 death. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2012 | Lightning | Truckee | 1 killed | A 71-yr-old man was struck and killed by lightning during an early morning thunderstorm at Donner Memorial State Park just west of Truckee, CA. He had been camping with family in the Park and was outside in an area of tall trees. |
| June 2023 | Hail | Truckee | $1,000 | Trained weather spotter reported roughly an inch of accumulating hail (0.25 inch) in the Truckee, CA, area and along I-80. |
| February 2025 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | A COOP observer station (BOCC1 - Boca Reservoir) located 1.0 mi SSW of Boca Reservoir, CA, a CoCORAHS station (CA-NV-51 Truckee) located 2.0 mi N of Truckee, CA, and a CO-OP Observer station (FARC1 Floriston) located 2.0 mi NNW of Floriston, CA, reported 24 hour rainfall/liquid totals of 3.22 inches, 2.98 inches, and 2.52 inches respectively. |
| February 2025 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | A CoCORAHS station (CA-NV-51 Truckee) located 2.0 mi N of Truckee, CA, and a CO-OP Observer station (BOCC1) located 1.0 mi SSW of Boca Reservoir, CA, reported 24 hour rainfall/liquid totals of 1.0 inches and 0.68 inches respectively. |
| November 2024 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | A Local Official located at 6.0 mi W of Truckee, CA, a CoCORAHS station (CA-NV-51 Truckee) located 2.0 mi N of Truckee, CA, and a CO-OP Observer located 3.0 mi E of Truckee, CA, at the Truckee-Tahoe Airport (KTVL) reported 24 hour rainfall/liquid totals of 2.07 inches, 1.14 inches, and 0.96 inches respectively. |
| September 2023 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | A CoCoRaHS station (CA-NV-51) located 1.6 mi N of Truckee, CA, reported a total rainfall amount of 0.57 inches. |
| December 2022 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | COCORAHS Station (CA-NV-51) located 2.0 mi N Truckee, CA, and CO-OP observer located 1.0 mi SSW of Boca Reservoir, CA, reported 24 hour heavy rainfall totals of 5.57 and 4.62 inches respectively during the period from 12/31/22 07:00 LST through 1/1/23 07:00 LST. |
| July 2018 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | Mesonet station TKEC1, Truckee reported 1.22 inches of rainfall in a 6-hour period from 23 July 1033PST to 1633PST. |
| July 2018 | Hail | Truckee | - | Public 1-mile west-northwest of Truckee reported quarter size hail via social media. |
| October 2018 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | Mesonet TADC1 2 miles northeast of Donner Peak (elevation 7399 feet) reported 1.04 inches of rainfall in a 26-hour period from 3 October 1133PST to 4 October 1333PST. |
| May 2009 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | Heavy rainfall over Nevada County caused river and creek levels to rise. Some 24-hour rainfall totals included:||5 miles WNW of Truckee, 2.57 inches of rain caused minor street flooding; |Donner Lake HADS site 5 miles west of Truckee (elev. 5924 ft), 1.87 inches; and |Independence Creek SNOTEL (elev. 6500 ft), 1.30 inches. |
| February 2006 | Heavy Rain | Truckee | - | A total of 5.27 inches of rain was reported at Donner Lake Dam. |
| May 1999 | Hail | Truckee | - | Nevada County Sheriff reported "large" hail on Interstate 80 between Truckee and Donner Summit. Traffic was temporarily stopped. No confirmed reports of hail size other than Doppler Radar estimates exceeding 1.00 inch. |
| August 1998 | Hail | Truckee | - | NWS spotter reported 1 inch hail along California Route 89 near Truckee CA. No damage reported. |
| July 2015 | Hail | Truckee | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Truckee | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Truckee | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Flood | Truckee | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Truckee | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Truckee | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponderosa Fairway Estates | 1.0 miles | 36 | |
| Gateway | 1.1 miles | 36 | |
| Meadow Lake Park | 1.4 miles | 36 | |
| Olympic Heights | 1.5 miles | 36 | |
| Prosser Lake Heights | 1.6 miles | 36 | |
| Prosser Lakeview Estates | 2.5 miles | 36 | |
| Polaris | 2.6 miles | 36 | |
| Armstrong | 2.8 miles | 36 |
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 Truckee | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q506402 | 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 1667886. 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.











