The shapefile in this data release is the updated Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM2) model grid cells with yearly land use from 1921 to 2019. Historical land use data shows the Central Valley land use prior to agricultural development. The rise of agriculture in the Central Valley is visible over time in this data set. Existing land use maps covering the Central Valley were used as sources and were assigned to model grids cells for their observed land use year. This source data was used to estimate land use over time for years where no land use map was available. This was accomplished by comparing land use cells between two years where source data is available. Cells where there is no land use change remain the same and are assigned that land use over the years with missing data. Where land use change occurs, cells are assigned the land use in the newer map based on the area of the new land use and the number of years with missing data.