Explore Independence, California, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Independence, California. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of California or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Independence.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | Independence |
| State | California (CA) |
| County | Inyo County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles) |
| Latitude | 36.83031 |
| Longitude | -118.207855 |
| Population | 593 |
| Density | 47.1 /km² |
| Incorporated | N/A |
| ZIP Codes | 95245, 93526 |
| Area Code | 408, 669, 760 |
| County Seat | Independence |
| School District | Owens Valley Unified School District |
Independence occupies a high, arid expanse where the crystalline flow of Independence Creek defines the rhythm of the soil and the temperament of the afternoon. It lies 62.9 miles northeast of Exeter, CA (from Exeter, CA: bearing 56°T), and is situated 56.6 miles east-northeast of Woodlake. The landscape stretches toward the horizon with a stark, uncompromising clarity, defined by the rugged silhouette of the Sierra Nevada looming in the distance. Sunlight here possesses a brittle, golden quality, bleaching the sagebrush and casting long, sharp shadows across the dusty ground of Dehy Park. Even in the height of summer, the air retains a thin, bracing edge, moving across the open plains with a quiet intensity that suggests the vastness of the inland interior.
Independence emerged from the hard necessity of frontier settlement, evolving from a place of transient camps into a center for regional trade and administration. The local economy remains tethered to the land, reflecting a history of small-scale agriculture and the stewardship of the surrounding wilderness, with the lush, green corridors of Lower Grays Meadow providing a stark contrast to the surrounding desert scrub. Travelers often find their way here to experience the transition between the low-lying basins and the higher, cooler elevations found toward Twin Lakes. Life in Independence moves with the deliberate pace of a place that understands its solitude, where the daily concerns of the residents are perpetually framed by the grand, silent scale of the terrain.
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This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Independence, California. Coordinates: 36.83031, -118.207855. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for Independence includes the ZIP code (95245, 93526), telephone area code (408, 669, 760), county seat of Inyo County (Independence), and school district assignment (Owens Valley Unified School District).
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |