Headlands Environmental

California environmental rules, by county

Every California county enforces its own environmental rules on top of state law. This directory summarizes the rules most likely to catch a project applicant off guard — county by county — and links through to each county's page.

58 California counties covered
442 local environmental rules tracked statewide
71K projects filed for environmental review statewide

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Counties are listed by project-review activity — the counties with the most projects filed come first. Filter by name to jump to a specific county.

Los Angeles County 9,721,138 · 15 rules 8.9K projects filed Kern County 900,000 · 6 rules 6.0K projects filed San Diego County 3,298,799 · 13 rules 4.2K projects filed Riverside County 2,458,395 · 11 rules 3.4K projects filed Orange County 3,186,989 · 10 rules 3.3K projects filed San Bernardino County 2,181,654 · 8 rules 3.3K projects filed Sacramento County 1,585,055 · 12 rules 3.1K projects filed Sonoma County 487,000 · 9 rules 2.4K projects filed Placer County 433,822 · 9 rules 2.0K projects filed Fresno County 1,000,000 · 6 rules 1.9K projects filed Santa Clara County 1,936,259 · 9 rules 1.7K projects filed Alameda County 1,682,353 · 7 rules 1.6K projects filed Contra Costa County 1,165,927 · 8 rules 1.5K projects filed San Joaquin County 780,000 · 6 rules 1.5K projects filed Tulare County 470,000 · 6 rules 1.4K projects filed San Luis Obispo County 282,424 · 9 rules 1.3K projects filed Humboldt County 136,000 · 8 rules 1.3K projects filed Mendocino County 90,000 · 9 rules 1.2K projects filed El Dorado County 195,000 · 7 rules 1.2K projects filed San Mateo County 764,442 · 11 rules 1.2K projects filed Ventura County 843,843 · 11 rules 984 projects filed Santa Cruz County 262,406 · 10 rules 965 projects filed Santa Barbara County 448,229 · 9 rules 896 projects filed Monterey County 435,000 · 6 rules 872 projects filed Shasta County 180,000 · 8 rules 865 projects filed Lake County 68,000 · 7 rules 843 projects filed Marin County 260,000 · 9 rules 791 projects filed Solano County 453,491 · 8 rules 762 projects filed Napa County 138,019 · 9 rules 747 projects filed Butte County 212,000 · 8 rules 742 projects filed Stanislaus County 550,000 · 6 rules 707 projects filed Siskiyou County 44,000 · 7 rules 646 projects filed Yolo County 220,000 · 8 rules 639 projects filed Trinity County 16,000 · 7 rules 622 projects filed Nevada County 102,000 · 6 rules 598 projects filed Merced County 280,000 · 6 rules 553 projects filed Kings County 150,000 · 6 rules 531 projects filed Mono County 14,000 · 6 rules 531 projects filed Madera County 160,000 · 6 rules 527 projects filed Imperial County 180,000 · 5 rules 501 projects filed San Francisco County 827,526 · 8 rules 449 projects filed Tuolumne County 55,000 · 6 rules 430 projects filed Plumas County 19,000 · 7 rules 380 projects filed Inyo County 19,000 · 5 rules 359 projects filed Tehama County 65,000 · 7 rules 351 projects filed Calaveras County 46,000 · 6 rules 348 projects filed Yuba County 80,000 · 5 rules 328 projects filed Sutter County 99,000 · 7 rules 296 projects filed San Benito County 65,000 · 5 rules 260 projects filed Amador County 40,000 · 6 rules 248 projects filed Del Norte County 28,000 · 7 rules 242 projects filed Lassen County 31,000 · 8 rules 199 projects filed Colusa County 22,000 · 7 rules 163 projects filed Modoc County 9,000 · 7 rules 162 projects filed Mariposa County 17,000 · 6 rules 146 projects filed Glenn County 29,000 · 7 rules 131 projects filed Sierra County 3,200 · 5 rules 116 projects filed Alpine County 1,200 · 6 rules 84 projects filed

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Enter an address and get an instant environmental profile — protected species in range, local ordinances, and the review topics your project triggers. Includes data the county directory can't show without knowing the location.

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Source: Headlands Environmental — environmental site screening for California. County rules summarized from publicly available county codes and planning documents; project review counts indexed from the State Clearinghouse.