Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Truckee, CA

Truckee is an incorporated town in Nevada County high in the Sierra Nevada, and although settlers arrived in the 1840s it did not incorporate until March 23, 1993.

Truckee had 16,729 residents at the 2020 census, living in about 6,860 households averaging 2.47 people each, with roughly 73% of homes owner-occupied.

The town takes its name from the Truckee River, which the 1844 Stephens-Townsend-Murphy emigrant party named after a Paiute chief they called Truckee.

Truckee's most famous historical event is the Donner Party tragedy: in the winter of 1846-47, snowbound emigrants camped at Donner Lake, and of the 87 settlers in the Donner-Reed party only 48 survived.

Donner Memorial State Park, established in 1928 at the east end of Donner Lake, preserves the Donner Camp site across 3,549 acres; its Pioneer Monument stands on a 22-foot pedestal marking the reported depth of that winter's snow.

Truckee grew up around a station on the first transcontinental railroad, completed through Donner Pass in 1868, and logging was a major industry in the area until the 1920s.

Elevations inside the town range from about 5,540 feet near Boca to nearly 7,500 feet in the Tahoe Donner neighborhood, making Truckee one of California's highest and coldest incorporated towns.

The median value of an owner-occupied home in Truckee is about $947,900, reflecting its popularity as a gateway to Lake Tahoe ski resorts such as Northstar and Palisades Tahoe.

Interstate 80 and the Union Pacific Railroad — both major transcontinental routes — pass directly through town alongside the Truckee River.