Cottonwood sits on I-5 about 15 miles south of Redding and 4 miles past Anderson. It had 6,268 residents at the 2020 Census and has no city government, so county agencies and special districts handle everything. Which county depends on the address.
The 96022 ZIP code crosses into Tehama County, so a listing marked Cottonwood can fall under a different planning department, fire agency, and zoning code than a house a few miles up the road.
In Cottonwood, the parcel details matter more than the town name. Zoning suffixes decide how many animals you can keep and whether the land can ever be split. Service boundaries decide whether you drink district water or pump your own.
What the Cottonwood Market Looks Like Next to Redding
Over the three months ending August 2026, Cottonwood homes sold for less than Redding homes, both per house and per square foot.
Anderson is different: its lower median came mostly from smaller homes, as our look at Anderson real estate showed. In Cottonwood the space itself costs less.
Price and Price per Square Foot
The Cottonwood-area median sale price was $354,765, up 13.0% from a year earlier. Redding's median for the same period was $399,735.
Per square foot, Cottonwood came in at $229 against Redding's $253. Across ZIP 96022, the median home is 1,564 sq ft and was built in 1991, which is newer than Redding's median year built of 1983.
Most buyers who ask us about Cottonwood want more land than the same budget buys inside Redding. You can browse current acreage in our home search, and our page on buying a home covers what to line up before you start touring.
Pace and a Small Sample
Cottonwood homes sold in a median of 34 days, compared with 24 in Redding. Only 19 homes sold in August, so one or two large acreage sales can swing the median, and the 13% gain says more about that small sample than about a broad shift.
The figures also include some addresses on the Tehama side of the county line. Treat them as Cottonwood-area numbers.
For a specific property, recent sales of comparable acreage tell you far more than the town median does. As a real estate agent in Redding, CA that works the whole south county, we pull those parcel-level comps before any offer.
A Cottonwood Address Can Sit in Shasta or Tehama County
Tehama County was formed from the southern part of Shasta County in 1856, with Cottonwood Creek as the dividing line. Mailing addresses never followed that line.
Cottonwood itself is a census-designated place in Shasta County, but the 96022 ZIP code reaches south into unincorporated Tehama County.
The Shasta County Side
Shasta County handles planning, zoning, and building permits for the Cottonwood community, and the Shasta County Sheriff's Office handles law enforcement.
Fire protection comes from the Cottonwood Fire Protection District, an independent district that responds under agreements with the Shasta County Fire Department.
Lake California and the Tehama County Side
Lake California is a private gated community in unincorporated Tehama County, and its homes carry Cottonwood addresses.
The Rio Alto Water District provides its water and wastewater service, Tehama County Fire staff stations there and on Bowman Road, and Tehama County's zoning code applies instead of Shasta's.
The community has its own property owners association, so ask for dues and governing documents early.
Confirming the County Before You Offer
The assessor's parcel number on the listing or the preliminary title report settles the question. Look the parcel up with the county assessor to confirm which county it is in, and from there you know which planning department to call.
Do this before you write an offer, because zoning, permits, and services all follow from the answer.
Reading a Shasta County Zoning Designation in Cottonwood
On the Shasta side, a parcel's zoning reads as a base district followed by suffixes, such as R-R-T-BA-5. Land near the Gas Point Road interchange carries commercial and denser residential zoning.
Most acreage outside the core is Rural Residential or Limited Agriculture. Each piece of the string changes what you can do, and Shasta County Planning can confirm how it applies to a specific parcel. Our real estate agents look up that string before a showing, not after an offer.
Rural Residential and Limited Agriculture
R-R allows up to one home per 2 acres on ground under 30% slope and one per 10 acres on steeper ground. Each building site needs at least one contiguous acre under 30% slope.
A-1 is intended for part-time or hobby agriculture and sets a 5-acre minimum lot. Both districts require 30 ft front, side, and rear yards.
Lot Size Suffixes
BA followed by a number sets the minimum building site area in acres, so BA-5 means 5 acres. BSM means the minimum is whatever the recorded map shows, which in practice holds parcels at the size they were mapped.
Flood and Mobile Home Combining Districts
F-2 is Shasta County's restrictive flood combining district. It flags land in a mapped flood area and adds building standards there. T is the mobile home combining district. If either appears in the string, ask planning what it adds for that parcel.
What Cottonwood Acreage Allows Under County Rules
Most people asking about Cottonwood acreage want animals, a second unit, or the option to split the land later. Shasta County's R-R and A-1 rules cover all three, with limits that are often tighter than buyers expect.
Animals per Half Acre
Both districts allow agricultural uses on lots with at least 1 gross acre, and they cap animals per half acre.
The cap is one horse, mule, or steer, or three goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, or alpacas, or 25 chickens, ducks, rabbits, or similar animals.
By that formula a 5-acre parcel allows up to 10 horses, and going above the cap takes a use permit. Buyers planning for horses usually check the fencing and the barn before they check the zoning, and the zoning is the one that decides.
ADUs and Splitting a Parcel Later
Both districts allow one accessory dwelling unit when the lot already has a main home. On a septic parcel, the practical limit is whether the system and the site can handle another unit, which Shasta County Environmental Health decides.
Splitting is a separate question. A 10-acre R-R parcel does not automatically become two 5-acre parcels.
The BA suffix, slope, proven water supply, and septic capacity all count, and the county expects the owner to supply that data. If a future split is part of your plan, get a planner's read before you close.
Utilities and Hazard Checks on Cottonwood Parcels
Service in Cottonwood changes within a short drive of the freeway. District water and county sewer serve the core, and private systems take over beyond it. Flood and wildfire exposure also vary parcel to parcel.
Community Water and Sewer in the Core
The Cottonwood Water District supplies water within its service area. County Service Area 17 runs the community sewer system and its treatment plant on Live Oak Road, and the county approved further collection system repairs in 2025. Confirm that a parcel sits inside each boundary rather than assuming from its location.
Wells and Septic Outside It
Beyond those boundaries, parcels run on private wells and septic systems, and the county does not inspect either when a property sells. Our guide to well and septic on Shasta County acreage covers what to test during your contingency period.
Flood Mapping Along Cottonwood Creek
The town sits on both banks of Cottonwood Creek. Independent climate risk modeling puts 6% of Cottonwood properties at risk of severe flooding over the next 30 years. Check the FEMA flood map for the specific parcel and look for an F-2 suffix in its zoning.
A lender will require flood insurance on a federally backed loan if the home sits in a mapped special flood hazard area.
Wildfire Exposure and Insurance
The same modeling puts 99% of Cottonwood properties at some wildfire risk over 30 years. Hazard zone designations still vary by parcel, so check the CAL FIRE map for the address rather than assuming.
Start insurance quotes as soon as your offer is accepted. Our post on wildfire insurance explains what to expect from carriers and the FAIR Plan.
Buying in Cottonwood With a Shasta County Team
Cottonwood works well for buyers who check the county, the zoning string, and the service boundaries before they commit to the acreage.
Greater Life Realty works the south county from our Redding office, and we can pull parcel records and comparable acreage sales before you write an offer.
Reach out to us to talk through a Cottonwood property or to start a search built around what you need the land to do. We are here to guide you home to a greater life.
