Ross is a small incorporated town in Marin County, California, United States, just north of San Francisco. Ross is located 1.5 miles west-southwest of San Rafael, at an elevation of 36 feet. The population was 2,338 at the 2020 census. The town is bordered by San Rafael to the east, Kentfield to the south, San Anselmo to the north, and the Mount Tamalpais protected watershed to the west.
Ross is named in honor of James Ross, who acquired Rancho Punta de Quentin in 1859.
After the Mexican Revolution of 1821, the "land grant" system of parceling out land gave rise to what is now known as Marin County. Ross was originally part of an 8,877-acre (3,592 ha) Mexican land grant to Juan B.R. Cooper in 1840 known as Ranch Punta de Quentin Canada de San Anselmo.
In 1857, James Ross (1812-1862) bought Rancho Punta de Quentin for $50,000. Ross, a Scot who had arrived in San Francisco from Australia in 1848 and made his fortune in the wholesale liquor business, set up a trading post called "Ross Landing". He built his home on Redwood Drive and moved there with his wife and three children. When James Ross died in 1862, his wife, Annie Ross, was forced to sell a portion of her husband's larger land holdings to pay each of their daughters $10,000. The remaining 297 acres comprises the present-day Town of Ross.
The first post office opened in 1887, and Ross incorporated in 1908.
Landmarks include the Ross Bear sculpture by Beniamino Bufano located near town hall, and the Marin Art and Garden Center.