Friant is located 11.5 miles (19 km) north of Clovis,[7] at an elevation of 344 feet (105 m).

[1] The CDP is located along the banks of the San Joaquin River and at the base of Friant Dam and Millerton Lake.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2), of which 96.2% is land and 3.8% is water.

Friant has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) typical of California's Central Valley with hot, dry summers and cool, rainier winters.

[7] The post office came in 1881 and named the place Hamptonville, after William R. Hampton, its first postmaster.

[7] In the 1920s the place was renamed for Thomas Friant, a lumber company executive.

There were 252 housing units at an average density of 190.1 per square mile (73.4/km2),of which 224 were occupied, 171 (76.3%) by the owners and 53 (23.7%) by renters.

At the 2000 census there were 519 male and 259 female (total: 778) people, 226 households, and 148 families in the CDP.