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Sierra City California Map

Explore Sierra City, 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.

Interactive Map of Sierra City, California

How to Use This Sierra City, California Map

This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Sierra City, 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 Sierra City.

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	Sierra City
State	California (CA)
County	Sierra County
Country	United States of America
Timezone	Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles)

Latitude	39.565733
Longitude	-120.633827
Population	235
Density	42.2 /km²
Incorporated	N/A
ZIP Code	96125
Area Code	530
County Seat	Downieville
School District	Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District

🌦 Goto Sierra City Weather Page: Sierra City, California — Weather Warnings, Forecast, Radar, Satellite & Current Conditions

About Sierra City, California

Sierra City is a locality in Sierra County, California, United States. It is a small community with a population of 235. The population density is 42.2 people per km². Sierra City is located at 39.5657°N, 120.6338°W. It observes the Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles) timezone. ZIP code: 96125.

Sierra City occupies a steep, rugged corridor where the North Yuba River carves a path through the dense, evergreen slopes of the Tahoe National Forest. It lies 29.1 miles northwest of Truckee, CA (from Truckee, CA: bearing 304°T), and is situated 19.0 miles south-southwest of Portola. Granite outcrops push through the earth, marking the transition into the higher elevations where the air thins and carries the sharp, clean scent of pine resin and cold stone. Hackmans Ravine cuts deeply into the topography here, creating a dramatic verticality that shadows the morning and holds the evening chill long after the sun has retreated. In the quiet hours, the sound of the water against the riverbed provides a constant, low-frequency hum that defines the acoustic character of the landscape, while the distant, jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada stand as a silent, monolithic backdrop to the entire basin.

Gold mining once dictated the pace of Sierra City, leaving behind a legacy of abandoned shafts and a resilience forged by the boom-and-bust cycles that defined early prospecting life. Today, the economy leans into the quiet endurance of the woods, supporting those who maintain the trails and manage the timber, while visitors arrive to seek out the Commodore Trail or find stillness near the waters of Jackson Meadows Reservoir. The architecture remains humble, favoring wood and stone that blend into the surrounding forest rather than competing with it. Life in Sierra City moves in alignment with the seasons, shifting from the isolation of winter snows to the bright, intense clarity of a summer afternoon when the light catches the mica in the rocks and makes the earth seem to spark.

Nearby Outdoor Places

Tahoe National Forest (National Forest) — 0.1 mi, 143° SE · 895k acres
Kentucky Mine Historic Park and Museum (Museum) — 0.8 mi, 054° NE
Sierra County Chinese Laborer Memorial (Monument) — 0.8 mi, 053° NE
Pacific Crest Trail National Scenic Trail (National Trail) — 0.8 mi, 347° N · 1,886 acres
Sierra Buttes Fire Lookout (Monument) — 2.1 mi, 340° N
Plumas National Forest (National Forest) — 6.8 mi, 360° N · 1.2M acres
Bowman Reservoir (Local Recreation) — 7.2 mi, 179° S
Frazier Falls Overlook (Viewpoint) — 9.8 mi, 358° N
Downieville Museum (Museum) — 10.3 mi, 268° W
Downie Chapter 1249 (Monument) — 10.3 mi, 268° W
Yuba Theatre (Theatre) — 10.4 mi, 268° W
Plumas-Eureka State Park (State Park) — 11.8 mi, 344° N
Feather, California Wild and Scenic River (Wild & Scenic River) — 12.4 mi, 012° N · 24k acres
Webber Lake (Attraction) — 12.8 mi, 115° SE
Mammoth Mill (Historic Ruins) — 13.8 mi, 344° N
Jolly Boys Mine (Historic Ruins) — 15.2 mi, 196° S
Antelope Valley Wildlife Area (State Conservation Area) — 16.2 mi, 068° E
California State Lands Commission (State Resource Management Area) — 16.3 mi, 202° S
Western Pacific Railroad Museum (Museum) — 18.5 mi, 027° NE
South Yuba River State Park (State Park) — 19.8 mi, 220° SW
Missouri Bar (Attraction) — 20.2 mi, 221° SW
Frank C. Reilly Museum (Museum) — 20.3 mi, 294° NW
Donner Summit Historical Society (Museum) — 21.6 mi, 141° SE
"snowshoe" Thompson (Public Artwork) — 21.9 mi, 136° SE
North Fork American, California Wild and Scenic River (Wild & Scenic River) — 23.8 mi, 170° S · 12k acres
Illinois Bar (Attraction) — 23.9 mi, 228° SW
Edwards Crossing (Attraction) — 24.8 mi, 229° SW
Granite Chief Wilderness (Wilderness Area) — 27.7 mi, 151° SE · 28k acres
Mystic Theater (Theatre) — 29.3 mi, 225° SW
Bucks Lake Wilderness (Wilderness Area) — 34.8 mi, 312° NW · 24k acres

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