Byron sits at the far eastern edge of Contra Costa County, where the Central Valley meets the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the rolling foothills of the Diablo Range. It is an unincorporated census-designated place, largely surrounded by open farmland and the levee-and-slough landscape of the Delta, roughly midway between the East Bay suburbs and the agricultural towns of the San Joaquin Valley. The community is compact, with a population of about 2,000, and lies along the Byron Highway corridor that links Brentwood and Discovery Bay to the east and south. The town's most storied landmark is Byron Hot Springs, a mineral-springs resort in the foothills two miles southwest of the community. The springs were valued for their waters from pre-European times, and in the early twentieth century the Byron Hot Springs Hotel promoted itself as a grand spa. The resort closed in 1938, and during World War II the property served as Camp Tracy, a U.S. Army and Navy interrogation center; the remaining brick building stands today as a well-known, fenced-off Delta landmark. Modern Byron is defined less by its resort past than by its rural setting and transportation role. Byron Airport (C83), a county general-aviation field opened in 1994 south of town, is a popular base for recreational flying, gliding, and skydiving. Nearby regional resources include the Vasco Caves Regional Preserve, Clifton Court Forebay, and Los Vaqueros Reservoir, all within a short drive. Residents are served by the Byron Union School District, which covers Byron and neighboring Discovery Bay, while high school students attend Liberty High School through the Liberty Union High School District. Commuters rely on Byron Highway and Vasco Road, the latter a heavily used route over the hills toward Livermore and the Interstate 580 corridor, and the area functions as a quiet, small-scale counterpart to the faster-growing communities around it.