Bear Valley

• Official Name — Bear Valley • Settlement Type — Unincorporated Community Census Designated Place • Mapsize — 250x200px • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Type1 — State • Subdivision Name1 — California • Subdivision Type2 — County • Subdivision Name2 — Alpine • Leader Title1 — State Senate • Leader Title2 — State Assembly • Leader Title3 — U. S. Congress • Unit Pref — Imperial • Area Total Sq Mi — 5.18 • Area Land Sq Mi — 5.16 • Area Water Sq Mi — 0.02 • Area Total Km2 — 13.41 • Area Land Km2 — 13.35 • Area Water Km2 — 0.06 • Area Water Percent — 0.42 • Elevation Ft — 7100 • Elevation M — 2164 • Population As Of — 2020 • Population Total — 128 • Population Density Km2 — 9.59 • Population Density Sq Mi — 24.83 • Timezone — Pacific (PST) • Utc Offset — -8 • Timezone Dst — PDT • Utc Offset Dst — -7 • Postal Code Type — ZIP code • Postal Code — 95223 • Area Codes — 209, 350 • Blank Name — FIPS code • Blank Info — 06-04716 • Blank1 Name — GNIS feature ID • Blank1 Info —, • Website — http: www.bearvalleymusic.org/ • Illustration — Butterfly Mariposa Lily on Fremont Peak, above Bear Valley.

Bear Valley is within the Stanislaus National Forest and is reached by State Route 4. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.2 sqmi, of which 99.58% is land and 0.42% is water. Although inside Alpine County, Bear Valley Fire Department has contracted with California Department of Forestry, San Andreas, for dispatching.

Bear Valley's central Sierra location and elevation gives it a warm-summer Mediterranean climate that is nearly a subarctic climate. Precipitation is seen for a lot of the year except for the middle of the summer, which can experience thunderstorms. Late fall to early spring brings in most of the yearly precipitation, typically in the form of abundant snowfall. Furthermore, summers are warm with cool nights while winters are cold and relatively long.

The Bear Valley post office opened in 1967.

The annual Bear Valley Music Festival takes place in Bear Valley in late July-early August.

Bear Valley first appeared as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. census.

Bear Valley CDP, California – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race. • Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) — Pop 2000 — Pop 2010 — Pop 2020 — % 2000 — % 2010 — % 2020 • White alone (NH) — 116 — 118 — 113 — 87.22% — 97.52% — 88.28% • Black or African American alone (NH) — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0.00% — 0.00% — 0.00% • Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) — 3 — 0 — 0 — 2.26% — 0.00% — 0.00% • Asian alone (NH) — 0 — 1 — 1 — 0.00% — 0.83% — 0.78% • Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) — 0 — 0 — 0 — 0.00% — 0.00% — 0.00% • Other race alone (NH) — 1 — 0 — 3 — 0.75% — 0.00% — 2.34% • Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) — 8 — 1 — 5 — 6.02% — 0.83% — 3.91% • Hispanic or Latino (any race) — 5 — 1 — 6 — 3.76% — 0.83% — 4.69% • Total — 133 — 121 — 128 — 100.00% — 100.00% — 100.00% The 2020 United States census reported that Bear Valley had a population of 128. The population density was 24.8 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Bear Valley was 91.4% White, 0.0% African American, 0.0% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 2.3% from other races, and 5.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.7% of the population. There were 79 households, out of which 21.5% included children under the age of 18, 64.6% were married-couple households, 5.1% were cohabiting couple households, 7.6% had a female householder with no partner present, and 22.8% had a male householder with no partner present. 20.3% of households were one person, and 6.3% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 1.62. There were 58 families (73.4% of all households). The age distribution was 19.5% under the age of 18, 10.2% aged 18 to 24, 12.5% aged 25 to 44, 26.6% aged 45 to 64, and 31.3% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 54.0years. There were 76 males and 52 females. There were 532 housing units at an average density of 103.2 /mi2, of which 79 (14.8%) were occupied. Of these, 84.8% were owner-occupied, and 15.2% were occupied by renters.