Bodega Bay is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California, United States.

Bodega Bay is the site of the first Russian structures built in California, which were erected in 1809 by Commerce Counseller Ivan Alexandrovich Kuskov of the Russian-American Company in the lead-up to the establishment of Fort Ross.

[4][5] The town is now named in honor of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, a Spanish naval officer who explored the west coast of North America as far north as Alaska during multiple voyages of discovery in the late 18th century.

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) wanted to build a nuclear power plant at Gaffney Point on Bodega Head, across the bay from the town, in the 1960s, but the plans were shut down after a large protest (the first for environmental reasons) and the geologic fault which was found while it was digging the hole for the first reactor.

In the California State Legislature, Bodega Bay is in the 2nd Senate District, represented by Democrat Mike McGuire, and in the 2nd Assembly District, represented by Democrat Chris Rogers.

This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C).

[13] Like much of the California coast, summer afternoons are often cool and windy (and sometimes foggy) as winds blow in off the ocean.

Following the 2020 United States Census[31] Bodega Bay, CA, has a population of approximately 1,190 people.

The racial and ethnic composition of Bodega Bay, CA as of 2020-2023 is as follows: 75.3% are White alone, 13.7% are Black or African American, 1.3% are American Indian and Alaska Native, 6.4% are Asian, and 0.3% are Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone.

[32] In 2022, 73.8% of housing units in Bodega Bay, CA, were owner-occupied, marking an increase from the previous year's rate of 61.8%.

[32] The 2010 United States Census[33] reported that Bodega Bay had a population of 1,077.

Bodega Bay was the hometown of Nicholas Green, the American child shot dead during a robbery by highwaymen in Italy where his family were on vacation in 1994.

Nicholas and his family became famous when almost every organ or body part was donated to those in need following his death.

[35] Erden Eruç made history here when he completed the first entirely solo and entirely human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth.

[44] A nuclear power plant had been planned for Bodega Bay in the 1960s but was abandoned after both local and statewide protests and the discovery of the San Andreas Fault near the proposed site.