Valley Ford is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in western Sonoma County, California, United States.

Like all of Sonoma County, Valley Ford is included in both the San Francisco Bay Area and the Redwood Empire.

For millennia, the indigenous Coast Miwok and Pomo people have hunted, fished and gathered in the area.

[5] Europeans explored the coastline in the early 17th century but did not settle until 1812, when Russian fur traders came south from Alaska and built Fort Ross about 22 mi (40 km) northwest of Valley Ford.

Starting in the 1876, Valley Ford was a stop on the North Pacific Coast Railroad connecting Cazadero to the Sausalito ferry, enabling local ranchers and fishers to export produce to San Francisco.

[4][7] In 1976, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's installation art piece Running Fence passed through Valley Ford on its way from Cotati to Bodega Bay.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 2.6 square miles (6.8 km2), all of it land.

Warnings of high nitrate levels associated with surrounding dairy ranches have led some residents to drink, cook and even bathe with bottled water.