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Avila Beach, California

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the San Luis Obispo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93424. It stands on San Luis Obispo Creek. The Survey maps it on the Pismo Beach quadrangle. 1,576 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 427 feet above sea level.

Avila Beach within San Luis Obispo County

Then and now

1897 to 1998

The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Avila Beach, surveyed 1998
Topographic sheet of Avila Beach, surveyed 1897

Compare 1897 against another survey:

On record in Avila Beach

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

Population over time

2 figures

Avila Beach fell from 1,627 to 1,576 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,627
20201,576-51 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 32 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

133 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 133 fires within 5 miles of Avila Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 585 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 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/undetermined62
Equipment and vehicle use38
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Debris and open burning7
Arson/incendiarism7
Smoking4
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Recreation and ceremony4

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
7 September 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitJOHNSON
7 September 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitCASLU04171
30 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitONTARIO RD / SAN LUIS BAY
3 September 1992Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitTANK
29 September 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitMONTE
27 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Luis Obispo Unit911
2 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionAVILA
16 September 2009Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitSEE CANYON RD SLO_CO

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Avila Beach: 5 past producers, 3 occurrences, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Manganese, Diatomite, Magnesite. 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
Barnaberg MineMagnesiteProducer
Barneberg MineManganese, Iron, Gold, Silver, MercuryProducer
Sousa Ranch DepositChromiumPast Producer
Los Penascos Ranch DepositDiatomiteOccurrence
Pismo Heights Co.DiatomiteOccurrence
Barneberg MineManganesePast Producer1918
Borrow PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Borrow PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Pacific Coast Coal CompanySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Prefumo Canyon ProspectsManganeseOccurrence

Every working recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Storms near this place

1 since 2023

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Avila Beach in 1 storm report in 2023: 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 death. 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
January 2023Flash FloodAvila Beach1 killedA 60 year old woman was swept away in her SUV by raging flood waters along Avila Beach Road.

Every storm recorded in San Luis Obispo 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
Sycamore Springs1.0 miles32
Port San Luis1.3 miles27
Miles1.6 miles32
Sunset Palisades1.8 miles32
Shell Beach3.6 miles32
Pismo Beach5.4 miles32
Tiber6.0 miles34
Maxwellton (historical)6.3 miles34

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 Avila BeachAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3477456The 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 255343. 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.