Comptche (

Pomo The Pomo are a Indigenous peoples of California, Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to ...

: ''Compatche'', meaning "In the valley among the hills") is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza") is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United S ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. It is located southeast of

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

at an elevation of . There is a K–3 primary school serving the town, as well as a small store with gas pump; a post office, and a church. The population was 167 at the 2020 census.

Geography

Comptche is located in west-central Mendocino County at (39.2648954, -123.5911224). It is in ZIP code 95427 and lies at the junction of three minor roads. Comptche–Ukiah Road extends west from Comptche to Mendocino on State Route 1, while to the east Orr Springs Road leads to Ukiah on

U.S. 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...

(passing through Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve approximately halfway to Ukiah). Flynn Creek Road leads southward from Comptche to State Route 128 in Navarro River Redwoods State Park, near the town of Navarro. Flynn Creek Road and the western segment of Comptche–Ukiah Road provide an alternative route between Mendocino and the

Anderson Valley Anderson Valley is a sparsely populated region in western Mendocino County in Northern California. Located approximately north of San Francisco, the name "Anderson Valley" applies broadly to several rural, unincorporated communities in or nea ...

, used in winter storms when the

Navarro River The Navarro River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 9, 2011 river in Mendocino County, California, United States. It flows northwest through the California Coas ...

floods Route 128. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the Comptche CDP covers an area of , all of it land. The Albion River runs along the southern edge of the community, flowing west to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

History

The Comptche post office opened in 1877, closed later that same year, and reopened in 1879. Although the precise origin of the town's name is unknown, there was a village of the

Pomo people The Pomo are a Indigenous peoples of California, Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to ...

named Komacho nearby.

CDP demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that Comptche had a population of 167. The population density was . The racial makeup of Comptche was 137 (82.0%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0 (0.0%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 7 (4.2%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 3 (1.8%) from other races, and 20 (12.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15 persons (9.0%). The whole population lived in households. There were 76 households, out of which 11 (14.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 31 (40.8%) were married-couple households, 7 (9.2%) were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 26 (34.2%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 12 (15.8%) had a male householder with no partner present. 29 households (38.2%) were one person, and 20 (26.3%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.2. There were 37

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(48.7% of all households). The age distribution was 26 people (15.6%) under the age of 18, 5 people (3.0%) aged 18 to 24, 54 people (32.3%) aged 25 to 44, 45 people (26.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 37 people (22.2%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 43.5years. There were 78 males and 89 females. There were 85 housing units at an average density of , of which 76 (89.4%) were occupied. Of these, 44 (57.9%) were owner-occupied, and 32 (42.1%) were occupied by renters.

Politics

In the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

, Comptche is in , and . Federally, Comptche is in .

Education

Comptche is in the Mendocino Unified School District.
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References

* {{authority control Census-designated places in Mendocino County, California Census-designated places in California