Welcome to Alturas ...

The city of Alturas is located in Modoc County<1> and is the County Seat for Modoc County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Alturas, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1876.

The city was incorporated September 16, 1901.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Alturas has a population of 2,575 people<2> (see below for details).

Alturas is 4,370 feet [1,332 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the altitude of Alturas is about ¾ mile [or ~1¼ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Alturas lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Alturas is within the boundaries of the (530) area code.

The ZIP code for Alturas: 96101<4>

The city of Alturas was previously named Dorrisville. Going back to its beginning, The community of Alturas was originally named Dorris Bridge. For more information about the names of Alturas, see The Names of Alturas on our Genealogy Page.

Websites for Alturas ...

Official Website: www.cityofalturas.org/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Alturas had an population of 2,575 people. This is a decrease of 8.91% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 10.96% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Alturas had a population of 2,827 people (which is 29.16% of the total population of Modoc County). This makes Alturas the county's most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 2,827 people, the population of Alturas decreased 2.25% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 2,892 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Alturas.

Communities Also Named Alturas ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two California communities named Alturas: This one is located in Modoc County and the other is located in Sierra County.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Alturas.

Communities near Alturas ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Alturas.

• McArthur
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McArthur have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McArthur
  • McArthur is located in Modoc County
• Cantrall Mill ‑ Historic
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cantrall Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cantrall Mill
  • Cantrall Mill is located in Modoc County
• Canby
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canby
  • Canby is located in Modoc County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Canby <6>
• Likely
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Likely
  • Likely is located in Modoc County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Likely <6>
• Cedarville
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
  • Cedarville is located in Modoc County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cedarville <6>
• Davis Creek
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davis Creek
  • Davis Creek is located in Modoc County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Davis Creek <6>
• Lake City
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
  • Lake City is located in Modoc County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake City <6>
• Eagleville
  (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagleville
  • Eagleville is located in Modoc County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagleville <6>
• Adin
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adin
  • Adin is located in Modoc County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Adin <6>
• Madeline
  (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madeline
  • Madeline is located in Lassen County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Madeline <6>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Alturas. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Alturas.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Alturas. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Alturas.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Alturas. Our list includes 16 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Alturas.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Alturas ...

Looking for more information about Alturas? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Alturas, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Alturas.

Adding Alturas to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Alturas in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Alturas was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

From that list, the Alturas post office opened in 1876.

We also found Alturas in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Alturas.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Alturas: www.cityofalturas.org/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/