Del Rey, CA

Del Rey is a Fresno County census-designated place 3.5 miles south-southwest of Sanger in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. The 2020 census counted 1,358 residents. It began as Clifton, received a post office in 1885, and took the Del Rey name in 1898 when the railroad named its station for Rancho del Rey—“of the king.” That railroad connection helped turn the settlement into a raisin-shipping point, with packing houses and growers shaping the community’s early economy. Orchards and raisin work still define the surrounding landscape, while Del Rey’s road connections pull residents toward Sanger and Fresno for larger services.

Sanger Unified serves the community’s students, and the Fresno County community plan treats agriculture, water, roads, and the old railroad right-of-way as practical parts of the local map. Del Rey’s local scoop is an agricultural village whose name came from a ranch, whose growth followed the railroad, and whose present-day edges are still read through orchard rows and irrigation infrastructure.