Valley Ford, California
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Sebastopol census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94972. It stands on Ebabias Creek. The Survey maps it on the Valley Ford quadrangle. 148 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 52 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1935 to 1983The same ground, surveyed 48 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresValley Ford grew from 147 to 148 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 | 147 | |
| 2020 | 148 | +1 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 18 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 Sebastopol quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Valley Ford quadrangle1:24000, 4 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
Fires near this place
130 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 130 fires within 5 miles of Valley Ford between 1992 and 2020, burning about 373 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 3 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 | 51 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 43 |
| Debris and open burning | 20 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Natural | 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 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | HWY 1 JENNER |
| 8 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | BARNETT |
| 7 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | HWY, CDF TAC 6 4 |
| 7 September 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | HIGHWAY 1 |
| 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 |
| 30 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | VALLEY FORD RD BLOOMFI 4 |
| 3 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | ROBLAR RD BLOOMFIELD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Valley Ford: 2 producers, 1 past producer, 1 unknown, 1 occurrence. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Mercury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Prospect | Mercury | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Mercury | Occurrence | ||
| Bloomfield Quarry and Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Hagemann Ranch Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Martinoni Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Valley Ford in 10 storm reports between 2015 and 2025: 10 flood. 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 2025 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | Both lanes of California Route 1 were reported as submerged under water at Valley Ford Road. |
| February 2024 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | A vehicle was stuck in a flooded roadway on Valley Ford Road. |
| January 2020 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | Roadway flooding on SR-1 and Johns Street. |
| January 2019 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | Roadway flooding at SR 1 and Valley Ford Rd. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | CHP reports driver stuck in flooded road at Hwy 1 and Valley Ford Rd. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | Roadway flooding 13200 Valley Ford Rd. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | Roadway flooding, SR 1 and Johns St. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | CHP reports that there is flooding and a severe traffic alert on CA-1 between Petaluma Valley Ford and Middle Rd in Valley Ford. All lanes remain closed in both directions. |
| February 2017 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | Roadway flooding reported at Freestone Valley Ford Rd and SR-1. |
| February 2015 | Flood | Valley Ford | - | Roadway flooding reported by law enforcement. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodega | 3.2 miles | 18 | |
| Freestone | 3.8 miles | 18 | |
| Bloomfield | 3.9 miles | 17 | |
| Knowles Corner | 6.2 miles | 17 | |
| Occidental | 6.3 miles | 20 | |
| Bodega Bay | 6.7 miles | 17 | |
| Alten | 7.6 miles | 20 | |
| Camp Meeker | 7.6 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 Valley Ford | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q920538 | 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 236972. 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.









