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Alameda, California

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Alameda census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94501. It stands on Sausal Creek. The Survey maps it on the Oakland East quadrangle. 78,280 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 33 feet above sea level.

Alameda within Alameda County

Then and now

1897 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Alameda, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Alameda, surveyed 1897

On record in Alameda

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 12 records

Population over time

3 figures

Alameda grew from 72,259 to 78,280 between 2000 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.

YearPeople Change
200072,259
201073,812+1,553 (+2%)
202078,280+4,468 (+6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

20 surveys from 42 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

321 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 321 fires within 5 miles of Alameda between 1992 and 2020, burning about 103 acres in total. None started naturally. 41 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/undetermined220
Arson/incendiarism41
Smoking22
Misuse of fire by a minor18
Equipment and vehicle use11
Debris and open burning8
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
9 September 2008Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2005Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2004Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSanta Clara UnitSMALL
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
6 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
6 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Alameda County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 17 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Alameda: 8 producers, 8 past producers, 1 occurrence. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Sulfur, Sulfur-Pyrite, Copper, Silver, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
AlumSulfur, Silver, CopperPast Producer
Kaiser Industries CorpClayProducer
LeonaSulfur, Copper, SilverPast Producer
Leona HeightsCopper, Gold, ZincPast Producer1891
San Leandro Quarry and MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
AlmaSulfur-Pyrite, Copper, SilverOccurrence1892
AlmaCopper, SulfurPast ProducerBornite, Chalcocite, Chalcopyrite, Pyrite, Sphalerite
AlumSulfur-Pyrite, Copper, SilverPast Producer
Leona QuarryStoneProducer
QuarryStonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Alameda County

Storms near this place

18 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alameda in 18 storm reports between 2009 and 2026: 16 flood, 2 heavy rain. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
November 2024FloodAlameda$10Roadway flooding reported on I-880 near Market Street offramp.
January 2026FloodAlameda-One foot of water was reported on the offramp from westbound Interstate 980 to Jackson Street.
February 2025FloodAlameda-Around 6 inches of water covered the entire exit lane on the offramp from northbound Interstate 880 to Broadway.
December 2025FloodAlameda-Flooding was reported on northbound Interstate 880 around a half mile south of 5th Street.
November 2025FloodAlameda-Roadway flooding was reported in multiple locations in downtown Oakland, including the Jackson St onramp to northbound Interstate 880, the transition between northbound Interstate 880 to Interstate 980, and the transition between westbound Interstate 580 to eastbound California Highway 24.
November 2024Heavy RainAlameda-The Oakland Museum COOP station recorded a new daily record rainfall of 2.46 inches for November 22.
December 2024FloodAlameda-Floodwaters 3 inches deep along northbound Interstate 880 at Broadway.
December 2022Heavy RainAlameda-Oakland site had its wettest day on record (since 1970) with 4.75, beating out the previous record set back on 1/4/1982 by just 0.01||This day was 36% of Decembers rainfall at this site.
December 2021FloodAlameda-Heavy rain led to 1 ft of standing water in the roadway.
January 2020FloodAlameda-Roadway flooding at I-880 N and Broadway off ramp.
January 2019FloodAlameda-Flooding across off ramp of I800 N.
February 2019FloodAlameda-Flooding on on ramp of I880 S and 7th St, 3 to 4 feet of water.
February 2019FloodAlameda-Roadway flooding at NB 880 at Broadway.
December 2019FloodAlameda-Hwy 880 just south of Market St off ramp, lanes 3 and 4 flooded.
November 2019FloodAlameda-Roadway flooding on WB Hwy 980 on Jackson St off ramp.
February 2017FloodAlameda-I880 and 5th st on ramp flooded.
February 2015FloodAlameda-Roadway flooding on Westbound Interstate 980 at Southbound Interstate 880.
October 2009FloodAlameda-Flooding occurred along Interstate 880 near the intersection of Interstate 980.

Every storm recorded in Alameda County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Fernside0.7 miles42
South Shore0.9 miles37
Fruitvale1.5 miles42
Melrose2.0 miles42
West End2.1 miles37
Clinton (historical)2.2 miles37
Highland Park2.4 miles42
Lockwood Gardens2.4 miles42

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 AlamedaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q490744The 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 277468. 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.