Copperopolis sits in the western Sierra Nevada foothills of Calaveras County, along State Route 4 between the Central Valley and the Gold Country towns to the east. It is an unincorporated community and census-designated place with a 2020 population of 3,400. The name tells the town's origin story: unlike neighboring gold-rush settlements, Copperopolis was built on copper. The metal was discovered in 1860 by William K. Reed, Thomas McCarty, and Dr. Allen Blatchly, and the town that sprang up around the Union Copper Mine soon became the largest copper producer in the western United States, with a boom-era population that reportedly topped 10,000 by 1863. The site is recognized as California Historical Landmark No. 296. The mining era shaped Copperopolis, but the town's modern identity is recreational. Lake Tulloch, a reservoir on the Stanislaus River drainage, is the community's centerpiece, offering boating, fishing, and watersports along its many miles of shoreline. Saddle Creek Resort adds an 18-hole golf course and a residential golf-community atmosphere, while the surrounding oak-studded foothills and the nearby Copper Cove community frame the lakeside setting. Today Copperopolis functions as both a quiet foothill town and a second-home and retirement destination, with a median age well above the state norm and a strongly owner-occupied housing base. State Route 4 provides the main connection west to the Central Valley and east to Angels Camp and the rest of Calaveras County. For residents and buyers, Copperopolis offers a foothill lifestyle built around the lake, the golf course, and the open landscape, with a history that reaches back to one of California's most distinctive mining booms. Its mix of lakeside recreation, golf, and Gold Country character makes it a distinctive base in the Sierra foothills.