Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns · #199 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Cambria was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Its Register listings are the Guthrie House and the Old Santa Rosa Catholic Church and Cemetery. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1970.
The Cambria post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.
A Chumash site on present-day Cambria was named tsɨtkawayu, Obispeño for "place of the horses".
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cambria is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #199 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Cambria’s 3.3 sits above most of its state (85% of California towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cambria’s history is told.
Cambria’s post office has been open since 1870.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cambria.
The earliest human settlement of this area is known to be associated with prehistoric habitation by the Native American Chumash peoples, who harvested along the coastal area, with emphasis upon sites that were close to rivers.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Cambria, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1871 more discoveries were made, which are referred to in the following from the Trihime, of November 1 8th, of that year: — Our neighbors in the usually quiet town of Cambria are in the midst of an intense mining excitement. Some six months ago a man named Haskins was prospecting in the region known as the Pine Buttes, some eleven miles from Cambria, for a site for a saw-mill. Being an
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Such was the state of progression into which Cambria and vicinity had been inducted by the year 1878 that a railroad began to be talked of. By common acceptance a line of road was demanded which should connect Cambria's sea-port, San Simeon, with the county seat, taking Cambria on the way, as the most important station.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Cambria has always been patriotic. From an old Tribune we read, "Cambria led ofT in 1867 with the first real Fourth of July celebration." For many years Cambria has celebrated Admission Day with a barbecue, speeches, music and a Wild West show. The celebration site is up in the pines back of town. In 1870 Cambria celebrated with races of all sorts at Van Gordon's race track.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cambria. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cambria.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cambria’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,716 and 6,232 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cambria’s Wikipedia page.
The Cambria post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Cambria is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #199 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Two places: the Guthrie House (listed 1980) and the Old Santa Rosa Catholic Church and Cemetery (1982).
4% of Cambria’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1985.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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