Avenal, California
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the Avenal census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93204. It stands on Arroyo del Camino. The Survey maps it on the Avenal quadrangle. 13,696 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 807 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1912 to 1987The same ground, surveyed 75 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresAvenal fell from 15,505 to 13,696 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 | 15,505 | |
| 2020 | 13,696 | -1,809 (-12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 25 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.
- 1912 USGS Coalinga quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1930 USGS Canoas Creek quadrangle1:31680
- 1934 USGS Canoas Creek quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Polvadero Gap quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Canoas Creek quadrangle1:24000
- 1954 USGS Avenal quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
- 1987 USGS Coalinga quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
53 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 53 fires within 5 miles of Avenal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 24,241 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 | 23 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 15 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2000 | Smoking | under an acre | Fresno-Kings Unit | KCF-250A |
| 6 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 1358 |
| 4 September 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Fresno-Kings Unit | CHEVRON #8 |
| 22 September 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Fresno-Kings Unit | CANYON |
| 22 September 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Fresno-Kings Unit | TAR |
| 15 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Fresno-Kings Unit | FKU 39074 |
| 14 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Fresno-Kings Unit | AVENAL IC. |
| 5 August 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 139 acres | Central California District | SKY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Avenal: 3 occurrences, 2 prospects. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Chromium, Fullers Earth, Gypsum-Anhydrite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported Occurrence | Chromium | Occurrence | Chromite | |
| Reported Occurrence | Chromium | Occurrence | ||
| Tulare Lake View Group | Gypsum-Anhydrite, Fullers Earth | Prospect | ||
| Tulare Lake View Group | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Webb and Mingus Property | Fullers Earth | Prospect |
Storms near this place
14 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Avenal in 14 storm reports between 2000 and 2023: 3 flash flood, 3 heavy rain, 3 flood, 2 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2002 | Lightning | Avenal | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Lightning | Avenal | $1,000 | no account filed |
| January 2023 | Flood | Avenal | - | California Highway Patrol reported a large rockslide blocking the roadway on SR 41 southwest of the intersection with SR 33. |
| January 2021 | Flood | Avenal | - | California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding due to heavy rain at the intersection of SR 41 and SR 33 near Kettleman City. |
| October 2018 | Flash Flood | Avenal | - | California Highway Patrol reported flash flooding on State Route 41. Mud and debris were covering the westbound lanes on State Route 41. |
| October 2018 | Debris Flow | Avenal | - | California Highway Patrol reported flooding and mudslides across State Route 41 near the border of Kings and Kern Counties. |
| January 2017 | Flood | Avenal | - | California Highway Patrol reported a road closure due to roadway flooding on State Route 33. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Avenal | - | Both Coalinga fire department and a NWS employee reported street flooding between 1830 and 1850 PDT. Storms continued to redevelop over the area so flood threat continued. |
| May 2006 | Heavy Rain | Avenal | - | no account filed |
| February 2005 | Heavy Rain | Avenal | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Avenal | - | no account filed |
| March 2003 | Heavy Rain | Avenal | - | no account filed |
| March 2001 | Flash Flood | Avenal | - | no account filed |
| October 2000 | Hail | Avenal | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydril | 1.7 miles | 23 | |
| Millham City (historical) | 7.3 miles | 23 | |
| Reef Station | 8.1 miles | 25 | |
| Kettleman Station | 8.8 miles | 25 | |
| Kettleman City | 8.9 miles | 23 | |
| Murray | 9.1 miles | 23 | |
| Acebedo | 12.5 miles | 21 | |
| Stratford | 20.6 miles | 21 |
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 Avenal | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q790415 | 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 1660285. 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.












