Belmont, California
43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Mateo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94002. It stands on Phelps Slough. The Survey maps it on the San Mateo quadrangle. 28,335 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 43 feet above sea level.
Research this city
Then and now
1892 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1892 against another survey:
On record in Belmont
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
William C. Ralston HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Population over time
3 figuresBelmont grew from 24,505 to 28,335 between 1980 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 24,505 | |
| 2010 | 25,835 | |
| 2020 | 28,335 | +2,500 (+10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
22 surveys from 43 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.
- 1892 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1896 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1915 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1939 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1943 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:24000
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:24000
- 1997 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
339 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 339 fires within 5 miles of Belmont between 1992 and 2020, burning about 157 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 26 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 | 189 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 60 |
| Smoking | 29 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 26 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Natural | 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 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | NB HWY 280 / EDGEWOOD OF |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | not named |
| 6 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | EDGEWOOD |
| 6 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.5 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | OYSTER POINT |
| 6 September 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | PIPE |
| 5 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | not named |
| 5 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | not named |
| 5 September 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 47 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 47 workings within 5 miles of Belmont: 24 producers, 21 past producers, 2 unknowns. 24 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Mercury, Salt. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ideal Cement Company | Limestone, General, Clay | Producer | ||
| Redwood City Operation | Halite | Producer | ||
| Granite Rock | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Granite Rock | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Kaiser Gypsum | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Kaiser Gypsum | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Past Producer | ||
| Redwood Material Co. | Manganese | Producer | ||
| Redwood Material Co. | Manganese | Past Producer | ||
| Skyline Quarry | Calcium | Producer | ||
| Skyline Quarry | Calcium | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 2014Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Belmont in 6 storm reports between 2014 and 2024: 5 flood, 1 debris flow. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2024 | Flood | Belmont | $10 | A van went off the roadway near a large amount of flooding in lanes 3 and 4 of Interstate 280 at the Bunker Hill onramp. |
| March 2024 | Flood | Belmont | - | Flooding on the offramp from northbound Interstate 280 to Bunker Hill Road. |
| December 2021 | Flood | Belmont | - | Roadway flooding caused hard closure of SR 92 between SR 35 AND SR1. |
| January 2020 | Flood | Belmont | - | Roadway flooding on I-280 N and SR-92 connector. Water caused 1 vehicle to slide but were able to correct and continue. |
| February 2017 | Debris Flow | Belmont | - | Debris falling from hillside. Westbound lane of Crystal Springs covered with large boulders. |
| December 2014 | Flood | Belmont | - | Flooding of Interstate 280 NorthBound off ramp reported. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belle Monte | 1.1 miles | 43 | |
| San Carlos | 1.2 miles | 43 | |
| Devonshire | 1.4 miles | 43 | |
| Redwood Shores | 1.7 miles | 36 | |
| Laurel | 1.9 miles | 43 | |
| Hillsdale | 1.9 miles | 43 | |
| Foster City | 2.7 miles | 43 | |
| Palomar Park | 2.7 miles | 37 |
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 Belmont | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q816099 | 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 1658029. 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.





















