Overview

Butte County consists of 1,676 square miles, about 66 of which are incorporated within four cities (Biggs, Chico, Gridley, Oroville) and the Town of Paradise.

The remaining unincorporated lands under County jurisdiction - 1,610 square miles - encompass a wide variety of topography, climate, vegetation and types of land use. These can be divided into three zones: the relatively flat valley in the west, the rolling foothills and volcanic buttes in the center, and the high forested mountains and deep river canyons in the east. Conditions for the rural resident will vary by these zones; for example, agriculture dominates land use in the valley, while logging and public lands are more common in the coniferous forests of the mountainous east. Road conditions - and travel times - are influenced by topography and weather. The straight-a-ways in the valley aren't found in the foothills or mountains.

Precipitation for Butte County averages about 29 inches per year, but this figure masks tremendous variation across the County. The valley rarely sees snow, the foothills an occasional dusting, and the mountains enough to temporarily shut down travel. In the valley and foothills, expect temperatures between 95 - 105 F for much of the summer, when many seasonal creeks and springs run dry.

With a 2006 population of about 217,000, some 58% live in one of the five communities, leaving about 57 persons per square mile in the unincorporated County. Not very crowded - but remember that large parts of the rural County cannot be developed because of either natural constraints or large federal, state or private land holdings.