Siskiyou County area

Siskiyou County, California covers 6,347.9 square miles: 6,278.8 square miles of land and 69.2 square miles of water. Its county seat is Yreka. An estimated 42,013 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 060932026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area6,278.8 mi²
Water area69.2 mi²
Population (2025)42,013
People per mi²6.7

County outline

Generalized outline of Siskiyou County, California
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where Siskiyou County is located

Siskiyou County highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 98.9% of Siskiyou County’s measured area and water for 1.1%. Its combined area converts to 16,441.1 square kilometers or approximately 4,062,680 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land6,278.76716,261.9324,018,410.9
Water69.171179.15244,269.4
Total6,347.93816,441.0844,062,680.3

How Siskiyou County compares

By original Census land area, Siskiyou County ranks #5 of 58 in California and #54 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 4.088 times the California county-equivalent median of 1,535.7 square miles. It accounts for 4% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete California ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

Population and density of Siskiyou County

The Census Bureau estimates that 42,013 people lived in Siskiyou County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,172 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #45 of 58 in California. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 44,076, the population has declined by 2,063 (−4.7%), compared with −0.5% for California as a whole.

With 6,278.8 square miles of land, that is 6.7 people per square mile (2.6 per km²), placing Siskiyou County #2,777 nationally for density and #51 in California. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the California median is 112. Put another way, there are about 96 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate43,98344,05843,60242,85642,49042,013
Change—+75−456−746−366−477

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Siskiyou County

9 incorporated places lie at least partly in Siskiyou County. Together they are home to 19,058 people (45.4%); the other 22,955 (54.6%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Yreka city, with 7,714 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Yreka cityCounty seat7,714−1.4%9.983
Mount Shasta city3,071−4.7%3.77
Weed city2,603−9.1%4.817
Dunsmuir city1,587−6.9%1.604
Montague city1,157−5.4%1.778
Tulelake city833−7.2%0.41
Dorris city803−6.4%0.702
Fort Jones city659−6.4%0.602
Etna city631−6.4%0.766

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each place inside Siskiyou County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer, for the whole place even where it extends into other counties. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Siskiyou County is not part of any metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area in the Office of Management and Budget’s July 2023 delineation; 1,306 other county equivalents are also outside one. These areas are built around an urban core of at least 10,000 people plus the counties tied to it by commuting, so counties outside them are generally rural.

ZIP codes

23 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Siskiyou County; 21 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

9555695568960149602396025960279603196032960349603796038960399604496050960579605896064960679608596086960949609796134

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Siskiyou County

Siskiyou County shares a land border with 8 county equivalents, including 3 in Oregon. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Klamath County (5,949.9 mi²) and the smallest is Del Norte County (1,006.2 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Siskiyou County forms a block of 32,127.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 19.5%.

Map of Siskiyou County and the 8 county equivalents that border it Trinity County, California: 3,179.3 mi² landModoc County, California: 3,948.2 mi² landShasta County, California: 3,775.6 mi² landDel Norte County, California: 1,006.2 mi² landJackson County, Oregon: 2,783.3 mi² landKlamath County, Oregon: 5,949.9 mi² landHumboldt County, California: 3,568 mi² landJosephine County, Oregon: 1,638.6 mi² land
Siskiyou County (dark) and its bordering county equivalents. Select a neighbor to open its profile. Drawn from the 2025 Census cartographic boundaries in an equal-area projection. How borders are determined.
Bordering county equivalentLand mi²Size vs. SiskiyouCompare
Klamath CountyOregon5,949.91.1× smallerCompare
Modoc County3,948.21.6× smallerCompare
Shasta County3,775.61.7× smallerCompare
Humboldt County3,5681.8× smallerCompare
Trinity County3,179.32× smallerCompare
Jackson CountyOregon2,783.32.3× smallerCompare
Josephine CountyOregon1,638.63.8× smallerCompare
Del Norte County1,006.26.2× smallerCompare

How big is Siskiyou County compared with U.S. states?

Siskiyou County has more land than 3 of the 50 states. It is about 1.3 times the land area of Connecticut (4,842.5 mi²), while Hawaii, the next larger state, has 1 times as much land (6,422.6 mi²). California’s county land could hold about 25 areas the size of Siskiyou County.

Land area: Siskiyou County and the closest-sized states
Connecticut4,842.5 mi²
Siskiyou County6,278.8 mi²
Hawaii6,422.6 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 79.2 miles (127.5 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Siskiyou County?

Siskiyou County has more land than 3,168 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Siskiyou County6,278.8 mi²
California median1,535.7 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Siskiyou County at #59 nationally by total area, 5 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 1.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2%. The two percentages are within 0.1 percentage points of each other. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Siskiyou County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#53Washoe County, Nevada6,315.9Compare
#54Siskiyou County, California6,278.8This county
#55St. Louis County, Minnesota6,248.1Compare

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 41.586339, -122.533686. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 16,261,931,226 m²; AWATER: 179,151,856 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How big is Siskiyou County?

Siskiyou County, California has 6,278.8 square miles (16,261.9 km²) of land and 69.2 square miles of water, for a total area of 6,347.9 square miles. It ranks #54 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Siskiyou County the largest county in California?

No. Siskiyou County ranks #5 of 58 in California by land area. The largest is San Bernardino County, with 20,068.4 square miles of land.

What counties border Siskiyou County?

Siskiyou County shares a land border with Trinity County, Modoc County, Shasta County, Del Norte County, Jackson County, Oregon, Klamath County, Oregon, Humboldt County, and Josephine County, Oregon.

What is the population of Siskiyou County?

The Census Bureau estimates Siskiyou County had 42,013 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #1,172 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 6.7 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Siskiyou County?

The county seat of Siskiyou County is Yreka.

What cities and towns are in Siskiyou County?

Siskiyou County has 9 incorporated places. The most populous five are Yreka city, Mount Shasta city, Weed city, Dunsmuir city, and Montague city; 22,955 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Siskiyou County part of a metropolitan area?

No. Siskiyou County is outside every metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area in the July 2023 OMB delineation.

How many ZIP codes are in Siskiyou County?

23 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Siskiyou County, and 21 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Siskiyou County compare with U.S. states?

It has more land than 3 of the 50 states, including Connecticut (4,842.5 square miles of land).

How many acres of land are in Siskiyou County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 4,018,411 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 4,062,680 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

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