Maxwell, California

Maxwell (formerly, Occident) is a census-designated place^[2] and farm community in Colusa County, California. It lies at an elevation of 95 feet (29 m). Located off Interstate 5, it is home to Maxwell High School. The main crop grown is rice, though a variety of others such as grapes, almonds, olives, squash, and sunflowers are grown as well. Its ZIP code is 95955 and its area code is 530. Maxwell's population was 1,067 at the 2020 census.^[3]

Maxwell, California
census-designated place
A building in Maxwell
Maxwell, California Location in California
Coordinates: 39°16′37″N 122°11′41″W
Country	United States
State	California
County	Colusa County
Area [1]
• Total	2.150 sq mi (5.569 km2)
• Land	2.150 sq mi (5.569 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0 km2)
Elevation [2]	95 ft (29 m)
Population  (2020)[3]
• Total	1,067
• Density	500/sq mi (190/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP Code	95955
Area codes	530, 837
GNIS feature IDs	2583074[2]

History

The community bears the name of its founder.^[4] Swifts Stone Corral is listed as a California Historical Landmark No. 238. The original owner and builder of this stone corral was Granville P. Swift, a native of Kentucky. In 1847 Swift began ranching in Stone Creek Valley in Colusa County. In 1850 he and his partner Frank Sears needed a corral and, as there was no timber in the surrounding country, they built one from the flat stones that were scattered over the area.^[5]

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
2010	1,103		—
2020	1,067		−3.3%
U.S. Decennial Census[6] 2010[7]

Maxwell first appeared as a census designated place in the 2010 U.S. Census.^[7]

Aerial view of Maxwell in 2022

The 2020 United States census reported that Maxwell had a population of 1,067. The population density was 496.3 inhabitants per square mile (191.6/km²). The racial makeup of Maxwell was 449 (42.1%) White, 4 (0.4%) African American, 24 (2.2%) Native American, 5 (0.5%) Asian, 3 (0.3%) Pacific Islander, 446 (41.8%) from other races, and 136 (12.7%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 654 persons (61.3%).^[8]

The whole population lived in households. There were 360 households, out of which 126 (35.0%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 202 (56.1%) were married-couple households, 16 (4.4%) were cohabiting couple households, 86 (23.9%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 56 (15.6%) had a male householder with no partner present. 70 households (19.4%) were one person, and 32 (8.9%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.96.^[8] There were 274 families (76.1% of all households).^[9]

The age distribution was 295 people (27.6%) under the age of 18, 104 people (9.7%) aged 18 to 24, 274 people (25.7%) aged 25 to 44, 238 people (22.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 156 people (14.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 116.0 males.^[8]

There were 380 housing units at an average density of 176.7 units per square mile (68.2 units/km²), of which 360 (94.7%) were occupied. Of these, 193 (53.6%) were owner-occupied, and 167 (46.4%) were occupied by renters.^[8]

Politics

^{[needs update]}
In the state legislature, Maxwell is in the 4th senatorial district, represented by Republican Marie Alvarado-Gil,^[10] and the 3rd Assembly district, represented by Republican James Gallagher.^[11] Federally, Maxwell is in California's 3rd congressional district, represented by Republican Kevin Kiley.^[12]