San Rafael, California

San Rafael population, 2020 to 2024

San Rafael lost 1,182 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of -1.9%. In the latest year it moved by +143. Among 429 California places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 273rd; the median place changed by -1.1%. The median place of 5,000+ in California has 37,056 people, so San Rafael is 1.6 times that size.

San Rafael covers 16.59 square miles of land and 5.96 of water, for 3,614 people per square mile of land. The median California place of 5,000+ has 3,725, so San Rafael is close to the typical town.

What county San Rafael is in

All of San Rafael's residents live in Marin County, which had 256,400 residents in 2024. San Rafael holds 23.4% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in San Rafael

2 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap San Rafael by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 94901, 94903. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a city that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where San Rafael is

The Census internal point of San Rafael is at 37.981000, -122.506900. Sacramento, the capital, is 68.7 miles NE in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Richmond, CA (115,353 people), 8.2 miles away.

Daylight in San Rafael

At 37.98° N, San Rafael gets about 14 h 48 min of daylight around the June solstice and 9 h 32 min around the December solstice, a swing of 5 h 17 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near San Rafael

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in California, measured between internal points. The closest is Larkspur, 3.1 miles away, with 12,807 people.