Plumas County is a county in California, United States, in the northern Sierra Nevada, about 80 miles west of Reno, Nevada. It had a population of 19,790 at the 2020 census, an estimated 18,583 by 2025, and covers 2,613 square miles (6,770 km2) centred near 40°01′N 120°50′W.<\/p>\n
Quincy is the county seat; its postal code is 95971. Portola, its only incorporated city, sits 15 miles east. The county holds 1 city and 44 census-designated places on record, plus 10 further unincorporated localities and one ghost town, and it runs on Pacific Time. Its FIPS code is 06063.<\/p>\n
Plumas County has 45 named places with formal Census recognition: 1 incorporated city, Portola, and 44 census-designated places (CDPs) — unincorporated communities the Census Bureau tracks as statistical areas but that have no town government of their own. Ten further unincorporated localities and one ghost town, listed separately below, have no CDP boundary and no population data on record.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Quincy<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 2,210<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Chester<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 2,187<\/td>\n | 96020<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Portola<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 2,100<\/td>\n | 96122<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Quincy<\/td>\n | CDP · seat<\/td>\n | 1,630<\/td>\n | 95971<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Greenville<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 1,026<\/td>\n | 95947<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Graeagle<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 724<\/td>\n | 96103<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Beckwourth<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Belden<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Blairsden<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bucks Lake<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Canyondam<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Caribou<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Chilcoot-Vinton<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Clio<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| C-Road<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Crescent Mills<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cromberg<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Delleker<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| East Shore<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gold Mountain<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Greenhorn<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Hamilton Branch<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Indian Falls<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Iron Horse<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Johnsville<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Keddie<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| La Porte<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lake Almanor Country Club<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lake Almanor Peninsula<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lake Almanor West<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lake Davis<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Little Grass Valley<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mabie<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Meadow Valley<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mohawk Vista<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Paxton<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Plumas Eureka<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Prattville<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Spring Garden<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Taylorsville<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Tobin<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Twain<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Valley Ranch<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Warner Valley<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Whitehawk<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Ten more places carry local names but no CDP boundary or population count of their own: Buckeye, Cascade, Drakesbad, Feather River Park, Genesee, Longville, Palmetto, Seneca, Sloat and Spanish Ranch. Almanor, on the lake’s southwest shore, is a ghost town — its post office closed decades ago and the community it named now sits mostly under the reservoir.<\/p>\n Three CDPs share the Lake Almanor name — Lake Almanor Country Club, Lake Almanor Peninsula and Lake Almanor West — each a distinct gated or lakeside subdivision, not the same place as the ghost town Almanor or the town of Chester on the lake’s north shore. Chilcoot-Vinton is a single merged CDP combining two once-separate rail-siding communities. Blairsden and Graeagle are adjacent CDPs often referred to together as “Blairsden-Graeagle,” but the Census Bureau tracks them as two distinct places.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nMost of the county’s other CDPs and unincorporated communities have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest post-town’s code, most often Quincy’s 95971 or Portola’s 96122.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nPlumas County lies entirely within the Sierra Nevada, straddling the range’s northern end where it meets the Cascades. The county’s highest point tops out at 8,372 feet (2,552 m). Of its 2,613 square miles, 2,553 are land and 60 are water, about 2.3 percent — the state park service and the county both count more than 100 natural and artificial lakes here, along with over 1,000 miles of rivers and streams. Lake Almanor, on the county’s northeast side, is the largest of these, formed by a Pacific Gas & Electric dam on the North Fork Feather River; Lake Davis and Bucks Lake are the two next-largest reservoirs. The Feather River’s Middle Fork carves the canyon that Portola and Quincy sit along.<\/p>\n Tehama and Shasta counties lie to the north, Lassen County to the east, Sierra and Yuba counties to the south, and Butte County to the west. Tehama County<\/a>, Shasta County<\/a>, Lassen County<\/a>, Sierra County<\/a>, Yuba County<\/a> and Butte County<\/a> all border Plumas directly.<\/p>\n Plumas County had a population of 19,790 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 18,583 residents, a decline of roughly 6 percent. East Quincy and Chester are the two largest communities, each holding just over 2,100 people. Median household income runs $66,031 as of 2024, well below California’s statewide figure of $95,521 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 8 people per square mile of land, among the lowest of any California county, reflecting a landscape of national forest, lakes and mountains with few large towns.<\/p>\n Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector, with about 825 workers, followed by retail trade at 776 and educational services at 703, out of roughly 6,978 people employed countywide. The highest-paying sectors are utilities, averaging $147,713 a year, manufacturing at $85,164, and agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining at $82,807. Feather River College, in Quincy, has trained students in equine management, ecosystem restoration and applied fire management since 1968 and was recognized in 2020 as only the third Firewise-designated college in the country. The Plumas National Forest, covering 1,146,000 acres across the county and beyond, is headquartered in Quincy and is one of the region’s largest land managers and employers. Portola’s Western Pacific Railroad Museum, built on the former Portola rail yard, is one of the largest railroad museums in the western United States. Quincy hosts the county’s biggest annual event, the High Sierra Music Festival, on the first weekend of July.<\/p>\n The California Legislature created Plumas County on 18 March 1854, carving it out of Butte County. Its name comes from the Spanish Río de las Plumas, “Feather River,” a name Spanish explorers gave the waterway generations before American settlement. The Mountain Maidu people lived in the region long before the county was organized, and Gold Rush prospectors began settling the area from 1848 onward, founding mining camps such as Johnsville, La Porte and Spanish Ranch. Quincy itself takes its name from President John Quincy Adams, chosen by settler James H. Bradley, who donated the land that became the county seat; its post office opened in 1855.<\/p>\n On 4 August 2021, the Dixie Fire — the largest single, non-complex wildfire in California history — burned through Greenville, destroying about 75 percent of the town’s buildings, including its library, fire department and most of its downtown homes. No Greenville residents died in the fire itself, though one firefighter died of COVID-19 complications during the response. Rebuilding has drawn close to $1 billion in combined federal aid, insurance payouts and other funding.<\/p>\n No interstate highway crosses Plumas County. State Route 70 runs the length of the Feather River Canyon through the county’s heart, and State Routes 89 and 36 also cross it.<\/p>\n Reno-Tahoe International Airport, about 80 miles east of Quincy, is the nearest major commercial airport. No Amtrak station serves the county; the nearest stop on the California Zephyr line is in Truckee, to the south.<\/p>\n Where is Plumas County located?<\/strong> What is the population of Plumas County?<\/strong> How big is Plumas County?<\/strong> What is the county seat of Plumas County?<\/strong> How many towns and communities are in Plumas County?<\/strong> |