Willits, California
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1922 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Willits census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95490. It stands on Haehl Creek. The Survey maps it on the Willits quadrangle. 4,988 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,391 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1922 to 1991The same ground, surveyed 69 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1922 against another survey:
On record in Willits
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
Seabiscuit's Stud Barnlisted 2014
Willits Carnegie Librarylisted 1993
Willits Depotlisted 1999- Dr. Raymond Babcock Houselisted 2004
- Larsen Family Houselisted 1995
Population over time
2 figuresWillits grew from 4,888 to 4,988 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 | 4,888 | |
| 2020 | 4,988 | +100 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 16 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.
- 1922 USGS Willits quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Willits quadrangle1:62500
- 1944 USGS Willits quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Willits quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1981 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1991 USGS Willits quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
296 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 296 fires within 5 miles of Willits between 1992 and 2020, burning about 597 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 18 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 | 113 |
| Debris and open burning | 54 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 46 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 21 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 18 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 11 |
| Natural | 9 |
| Smoking | 9 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | WELL |
| 7 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Mendocino Unit | POPPY 3 |
| 5 September 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.6 acres | Mendocino Unit | SUMMIT |
| 5 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Mendocino Unit | P. G. & E. #12 |
| 4 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | FANBLADE |
| 4 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | POPPY |
| 30 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | SMITH |
| 3 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | TULIP |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 16 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of Willits: 8 producers, 4 prospects, 2 occurrences, 1 unknown. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Manganese, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Magnesite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southard Ranch | Magnesite | Producer | Magnesite | |
| Ford Canyon Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Willits Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| C A Haun and Son | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Longvale Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Longvale Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Willits Ready Mix | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Coursey Bros. | Manganese | Prospect | ||
| Coursey Brothers Prospect | Manganese | Prospect | 1917 | |
| Knight Prospect | Manganese | Prospect | 1942 |
Storms near this place
6 since 2022Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Willits in 6 storm reports between 2022 and 2025: 5 flood, 1 heavy rain. 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 2025 | Flood | Willits | - | Central Valley Road reported as flooded in Willits. |
| December 2022 | Flood | Willits | - | East Barbara Lane Bridge at Railroad Avenue was closed due to flooding. |
| September 2022 | Heavy Rain | Willits | - | CoCoRaHS report of 2.58 inches of rain in 45 minutes. 1 to 2 inches of water was observed on the Willits Bypass which stopped traffic. Water quickly subsided after the thunderstorm. |
| December 2022 | Flood | Willits | - | Walnut Street between Locust Street and Poplar Avenue was closed due to flooding. |
| December 2022 | Flood | Willits | - | The corner of East Commercial Street and Lenmore Avenue was closed due to flooding. |
| December 2022 | Flood | Willits | - | Eastbound E Valley Road was closed in Willits 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simerson | 0.8 miles | 16 | |
| Muir | 1.0 miles | 16 | |
| Upp | 1.2 miles | 16 | |
| DeCamp | 2.1 miles | 16 | |
| Fair Oaks | 2.3 miles | 16 | |
| Brooktrails | 2.8 miles | 15 | |
| Crowley | 3.7 miles | 15 | |
| Clare Mill | 3.9 miles | 15 |
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 Willits | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2334435 | 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 1652654. 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.







