River
San Joaquin River
564 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Sacramento River
In numbers
Length
564km
Average flow
1,200m³/s
Basin
40,400km²
Drop
1,562m
from 1,553 m to -9 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
564 km of river and 21 stops on the way: 6 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmThousand Island Lakeat 1,553 m
- 46 kmMammoth Pool Reservoir2.7 km²
- 70 kmStevenson Creek Falls
- 84 kmRedinger Lake1.2 km²
- 146 kmMillerton Lake16 km²
- 146 kmFriant Dam
- 185 kmSan Joaquin River Viaduct
- 258 kmFirebaugh8,330 people
- 296 kmFresno Rivertributary
- 361 kmMerced Rivertributary
- 405 kmTuolumne Rivertributary
- 416 kmStanislaus Rivertributary
- 440 kmManthey Road Bridge
- 440 kmMossdale Bridge
- 447 kmLathrop20,866 people
- 465 kmCountry Club9,379 people
- 469 kmCalaveras Rivertributary
- 514 kmMokelumne Rivertributary
- 523 kmAntioch Bridge
- 529 kmAntioch115,291 people
- 542 kmPittsburg69,424 people
- 547 kmBay Point21,534 people
- 564 kmSacramento Riverat -9 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in California, United States
At the mouth it carries 1,180 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.1 seconds. It drops from 1,553 m to -9 m, 2.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 40,400 km², about the size of CH. 6.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 94% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- AntiochLargest city on its banks · 115,291 people
- Buchanan Field (CCR)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 22 km from the cityCar hire at OAK airport (Oakland)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water68 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
San Joaquin River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 100 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,000 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
San Joaquin River: the basin in numbers
124,352 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 6.1millionpeople live in the basin
- 49/km²people per km²
- 896maverage altitude of the basin
- 718mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 12.1°Caverage air temperature
- 11%protected areas
- 1.6%covered by lakes
- 35km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 64% Forest
- 18% Cropland
- 18% Pasture
- 3% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
San Joaquin River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 24Locks
- 12WaterfallsGranite Creek Falls, Stevenson Creek Falls, Finnegan Falls and 9 more
- 53Boat rampsBoat Ramp #1, Marina Boat Launch and 51 more
- 14MarinasMillerton Marina, Stockton Yacht Club, Stockton Sailing Club and 11 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
San Joaquin River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
36mountains at the sourcePeakyas
16islands off the mouthIslandyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Stevenson Creek Fallskm 60
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Mammoth Pool Reservoirkm 392.7km²
- Redinger Lakekm 711.2km²
- Millerton Lakekm 12416km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (36)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Clyde Minaret14 km away3,738m
- Michael Minaret14 km away3,736m
- Eichorn Minaret14 km away3,730m
- Rice Minaret14 km away3,730m
- Ken Minaret14 km away3,730m
- Bedayan Minaret14 km away3,690m
- Dawson Minaret15 km away3,650m
- Sharktooth Peak15 km away · prominence 60 m3,551m
28 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (16)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Bethel Island27 km away
- Sherman Island18 km away57km²
- Bradford Island25 km away
- Browns Island7.2 km away2.4km²
- Roe Island8.0 km away
- Ryer Island6.9 km away
- Morrow Island14 km away
- Joice Island14 km away
8 more on IslandyasIslandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
San Joaquin River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Sacramento RiverUnited States644 km660 m³/sTributaries (25)
Also: Tuolumne River, Stanislaus River, Mokelumne River, Kings River, Calaveras River, Del Puerto Creek, Fresno River, Mariposa Creek, Big Creek, Cantua Creek, Chowchilla River, Dry Creek, Falls Creek, Fresno Slough, Garzas Creek, Ingram Creek, Little Panoche Creek, Little Salado Creek, Los Baños Creek, Panoche Creek, Salado Creek, Hospital Creek, South Fork San Joaquin River, Willow Creek
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q751347) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Islandyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit