Placer County · CA
Auburn, Placer County: Community Guide
Old Town has Gold Rush streets. The American River's forks meet below it. The foothills rise around both. Auburn keeps all three within one small area, and the railroad that followed the gold still shows in the streets.
Auburn at a glance
Old Town has Gold Rush streets. The American River's forks meet below it. The foothills rise around both. Auburn keeps all three within one small area, and the railroad that followed the gold still shows in the streets.
Only in Auburn
Where a 100-mile footrace ends.
The Western States Endurance Run, first held officially in 1977, covers 100.2 miles from Olympic Valley and ends on the track at Placer High School in Auburn. The course passes through Foresthill along the way.
Old Town
A Gold Rush street you can walk.
Claude Chana found gold in Auburn Ravine on May 16, 1848. Miners from Auburn, New York, named the town in August 1849, and Auburn became the county seat in 1851. The Central Pacific Railroad arrived in 1865, and the city incorporated in 1888. Old Town has restored houses and retail buildings from the middle of the 19th century. The Queen Anne-style Old Town Firehouse and the Placer County Courthouse, built between 1894 and 1898, are both part of the Old Auburn Historic District. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The river canyons
Trails and a river view close to town.
Auburn sits about 800 feet above the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the American River. The land around the confluence became the Auburn State Recreation Area, set aside when the Auburn Dam was planned and now trail country. The Foresthill Bridge crosses the North Fork about 730 feet above the water, northeast of town on Foresthill Road. Styles and eras of the homes in these hills vary, and we describe them one address at a time.
The rail and highway corridor
A train station and the interstate nearby.
Interstate 80 and State Route 49 both run through Auburn. Amtrak's Capitol Corridor ends its eastern run at the Auburn station, on the same railroad line that reached town in 1865. Lincoln, Rocklin and Roseville are the nearby towns.
Around Auburn
A larger lot in the Sierra foothills, with river canyons, a historic Old Town and the interstate close by.
The typical single-family lot here is about 14,810 square feet, roughly a third of an acre. Auburn sits about 800 feet above where the North and Middle Forks of the American River meet, with Interstate 80 and Highway 49 serving the area. Auburn State Recreation Area follows 40 miles of the two forks, the Old Auburn Historic District is in Old Town, and the Auburn station is the eastern end of Amtrak's Capitol Corridor. The city lists a Downtown Business Association, which cites over 400 businesses in its district, and an Old Town Business Association.
Close by
A hospital in town and a community college in nearby Rocklin.
Several institutions sit near Auburn. Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital is at 11815 Education Street in Auburn. Sierra College's main campus is in Rocklin, and the college has another campus in Nevada County, between Grass Valley and Nevada City. The Auburn station is the eastern end of Amtrak's Capitol Corridor.
The numbers, in one breath
Every neighborhood has a median, and in Sacramento the median only tells part of the story. Lot sizes vary. Eras mix. Custom homes sit beside tract homes. So even where the median is $675,000, there are one-of-a-kind homes that sell for far more, and the street, the lot and the details move the number.
Last year, 485 single-family homes sold in ZIPs 95602 and 95603 (October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026). The typical home was built in 1984, with 3 bedrooms and about 2,016 square feet, on a lot of about 14,810 square feet. Half of the sales landed between $540k and $850k, depending on lot size, condition, square footage and more, and the median was $675,000. In Auburn, 76 of those 485 sales closed at $1M or more, and the highest reached $3.33M. Condos and townhomes aren't included. This is what happened, not what will happen. Ask us for today's numbers.
Good to know before you look
We check private well and septic records with Placer County Environmental Health, FEMA flood zone status, and the fire hazard severity zone shown on the City of Auburn and Cal Fire maps. We look these up for each address.
Talk to us
Are you looking for 55-and-older communities, or helping a parent plan a move? Our Well MOVED section is built for that.
Ask us for today's numbers on any street: call (916) 549-3131 or send us a note.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Old Town?
Old Town is in the Old Auburn Historic District, around the courthouse and the firehouse clock tower.
Why is it called Auburn?
Miners from Auburn, New York, named it in August 1849.
The method
How we do it in Auburn
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