Paulden, Arizona
30 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Prescott census division. It lies in ZIP code area 86334. It stands on Big Chino Wash. The Survey maps it on the Paulden quadrangle. 5,567 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,409 feet above sea level.
On record in Paulden
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
- Verde River Bridgelisted 1988
Population over time
2 figuresPaulden grew from 5,231 to 5,567 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 5,231 | |
| 2020 | 5,567 | +336 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 30 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1887 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:250000
- 1892 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1905 USGS Jerome quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Paulden quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1949 USGS Paulden quadrangle1:63360
- 1950 USGS Paulden quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:250000
- 1979 USGS Paulden quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1981 USGS Prescott quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
91 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 91 fires within 5 miles of Paulden between 1992 and 2020, burning about 321 acres in total. 18 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 53 |
| Natural | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2016 | Natural | under an acre | Prescott National Forest | BORROW |
| 30 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority | NOT NAMED |
| 30 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority | NOT NAMED |
| 29 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority | NOT NAMED |
| 21 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority | NOT NAMED |
| 7 August 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Prescott National Forest | not named |
| 4 August 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | not named |
| 20 August 1994 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 26 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 26 workings within 5 miles of Paulden: 14 past producers, 8 unknowns, 3 producers, 1 occurrence. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boundary Quarry | Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | Sandstone | |
| Cinder Pit | Volcanic Materials | Past Producer | Scoria | |
| Cinder Pit | Pumice | Unknown | ||
| Del Rio Placers | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Abra | Limestone, General | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Blue Lime Placer M S 3021 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Upper Chino Valley Limestone | Limestone, General | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Upper Chino Valley Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
14 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paulden in 14 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 4 flash flood, 3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paulden | $7,000 | A mobile home was destroyed by thunderstorm outflow winds estimated at 58 mph. |
| September 2025 | Flash Flood | Paulden | - | The USGS stream gauge on Big Chino Wash near Paulden (BCWA3) measured a 4.1 foot rise (877cfs) in about an hour and a half. |
| September 2023 | Flash Flood | Paulden | - | Law Enforcement reported that the Big Chino Wash flooded Big Springs Ranch Road. |
| October 2014 | Hail | Paulden | - | A thunderstorm produced one inch diameter hail in Paulden. |
| October 2014 | Heavy Rain | Paulden | - | A thunderstorm produced 1.24 inches of rain in 40 minutes in Paulden with minor street flooding. |
| August 2011 | Flash Flood | Paulden | - | A few side streets were impassible in Chino Valley due to heavy rain from a thunderstorm. Highway 89 had four inches of standing water on it at times. |
| September 2004 | Flash Flood | Paulden | - | Water from Big Chino Wash covered La Rita Road to a depth of 3 feet just west of Paulden. |
| August 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Paulden | - | A tornado touched down twice in a unpopulated area near Paulden. |
| September 2002 | Funnel Cloud | Paulden | - | A funnel cloud was seen southeast of Paulden. |
| September 2002 | Flood | Paulden | - | The Prescott Sheriff Office reported that washes were flowing in the Paulden area. The flooding washed at least one car off a dirt road. |
| July 2002 | Hail | Paulden | - | One inch hail was reported in Williamson Valley 3 miles west of Paulden or 10 miles north of Prescott. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paulden | - | A mobile home was demolished by thunderstorm winds. |
| September 1999 | Funnel Cloud | Paulden | - | no account filed |
| September 1999 | Hail | Paulden | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abra | 1.6 miles | 30 | |
| Del Rio | 4.5 miles | 29 | |
| Drake | 8.2 miles | 30 | |
| Eddy Place | 8.8 miles | 25 | |
| Chino Valley | 8.9 miles | 29 | |
| Mack | 10.9 miles | 28 | |
| Bear | 12.3 miles | 29 | |
| Granite Siding | 13.5 miles | 30 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Paulden | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2376868 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 32736. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.













