Davis, California

Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Davis, which was over 9,400 (not including students' families) in 2016. As of 2023,^[update] there were 40,850 students enrolled at the university, and is known as the biking capital of America.

Davis sits on land that was historically inhabited by Indigenous people associated with the Clovis culture. The Patwin, a southern branch of Wintun people, eventually displaced existing Indigenous tribes. The Patwin were subsequently displaced by the American and Mexican government in the 1830s as part of the California genocide. Patwin burial grounds have been found across Davis, including on the site of the UC Davis Mondavi Center. Territory that eventually became Davis emerged from ranchos, Laguna de Santos Callé. Jerome C. Davis, a prominent farmer and one of the early claimants to land in Laguna de Santos Callé, lobbied to the United States Congress to retain the land that eventually became Davis. Davis became a depot on the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1868, when it was named Davisville after Jerome C. Davis. The post office at Davisville shortened the town name to "Davis" in 1907. The name stuck, and the city of Davis was incorporated on March 28, 1917.^{[citation needed]}

From its inception as a farming community, Davis is known primarily for its contributions to agricultural policy along with veterinary care and animal husbandry. Following the passage of the University Farm Bill in 1905 by the California State Legislature, Governor George Pardee selected Davis out of 50 other sites as the future home to the University of California's University Farm, officially opening to students in 1908. The farm, later renamed the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture in 1922, was upgraded to become the seventh UC general campus, the University of California, Davis, in 1959.

Davis is located in Yolo County, California, 11 mi (18 km) west of Sacramento, 70 mi (113 km) northeast of San Francisco, 385 mi (619 km) north of Los Angeles, at the intersection of Interstate 80 and State Route 113. Neighboring towns include Dixon, Winters, Woodland, and West Sacramento.

Davis lies in the Sacramento Valley, the northern portion of the Central Valley, in Northern California, at an elevation of about 52 feet (16 m) above sea level.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.0 square miles (26 km²). 10.0 square miles (26 km²) of it is land and 0.03 square miles (0.078 km²) of it, or 0.35%, is water.

The topography is flat, which has helped Davis to become known as a haven for bicyclists.

The Davis climate resembles that of nearby Sacramento and is typical of California's Central Valley Mediterranean climate region: warm and dry in the spring, summer and autumn, and cool and wet in the winter. It is classified as a Köppen Csa climate. Summer days are hot, ranging from 85 to 105 °F (29 to 41 °C), but the nights turn pleasantly cool, almost always dropping below 70 °F (21 °C). The Delta Breeze, a flow of cool marine air originating from the Pacific Ocean via San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, frequently provides relief in the evening. Winter temperatures generally reach between 45 and 65 °F (7 and 18 °C) in the afternoon; nights average at about 35 to 40 °F (2 to 4 °C), but occasionally fall below freezing.