Title 24 Reports in Amador County

One ZIP code carries the mountain zone

Of the eleven ZIP codes we derive for Amador County, ten are zone 12. The remaining one, 95666, is zone 16. It takes in Pioneer, Buckhorn and Amador Pines, the communities where the county climbs toward the Sierra.

A zone that rests on one ZIP code is exactly where our qualification rule is strictest: a lone ZIP counts only if the county holds 90 per cent of it or more. The Census relationship file puts the whole of 95666 inside Amador, so the claim stands on an unshared ZIP rather than a split one.

The line runs through Red Corral

Pine Grove, in 95665, is zone 12. Pioneer, in 95666, is zone 16. Red Corral sits between them, and the Census Bureau divides it between the two ZIP codes — 57 per cent of its land in 95665, 43 per cent in 95666. Neighbours there can be on different targets, so the address itself, not the community name, settles it.

Every city here is zone 12

Amador County has five incorporated cities on the California Department of Finance's 2026 estimates — Jackson, Sutter Creek, Ione, Plymouth and Amador City — and every one of them lies in zone 12 ZIP codes. A zone 16 project in this county is therefore always on unincorporated land and is permitted by the county; on the zone 12 side it depends on whether the site falls inside one of the five.

Pine Grove against Pioneer

Zone 12 is the inland two-season climate of the old Highway 49 towns: hot, dry summers make cooling the larger load, though winter nights are cold enough to count. Volcano, north-east of Pine Grove, is still zone 12. Zone 16 is the coldest assignment in the state, and over the few miles from Pine Grove to Pioneer the report's emphasis moves to insulation, air tightness and the heating plant.

Kirkwood is counted with Alpine

Kirkwood, on the eastern boundary, is a community the Census places in both Alpine and Amador counties. Its ZIP code, 95646, lies about 97 per cent in Alpine by land area, so it is counted there — and it is zone 16 on either side.

Every ZIP code by zone

Zones per the Energy Commission; county membership and community names per the 2020 Census.

• Climate zone 12 — 95601 (Amador City); 95640 (Ione, Camanche Village, Buena Vista); 95642 (Jackson, Martell); 95665 (Pine Grove, Red Corral); 95669 (Plymouth); 95675 (River Pines); 95685 (Sutter Creek); 95689 (Lockwood, Volcano); 95699 (Drytown); also 95629, split with a neighbouring county (below)
• Climate zone 16 — 95666 (Buckhorn, Amador Pines, Pioneer, Red Corral)

A ZIP code that crosses the county line

• 95629 (Fiddletown) — about 61% within Amador County, the remainder in El Dorado 39%

Fiddletown's ZIP code reaches north into El Dorado County. Zone 12 holds on both sides; an address north of the line is an El Dorado County permit.

Finding the zone for your own project

The zone is set by the project's location and confirmed from the ZIP code against the Energy Commission's published table — not from the county name and not from the nearest large town. Because Amador County contains more than one zone, that check decides which set of numbers a report is written against.

Give us the project address and we determine the zone as part of preparing the report. It is the first thing established, because every insulation, glazing and equipment figure downstream depends on it.

Climate zones in Amador County

Amador County contains California climate zones 12 and 16. The zone drives the insulation, glazing and equipment performance a report has to demonstrate, and it is confirmed from the project ZIP code against the Energy Commission's published table.