BlockBefore

Berkeley, California

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1895 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Berkeley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94704. It lies near Faculty Glade. The Survey maps it on the Oakland West quadrangle. 124,321 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 171 feet above sea level.

Berkeley within Alameda County

Then and now

1895 to 1993

The same ground, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Berkeley, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of Berkeley, surveyed 1895

On record in Berkeley

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 of 63 shown

Every listing in Alameda County

Population over time

2 figures

Berkeley grew from 112,580 to 124,321 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
2010112,580
2020124,321+11,741 (+10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

17 surveys from 37 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

204 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 204 fires within 5 miles of Berkeley between 1992 and 2020, burning about 384 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 14 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/undetermined151
Arson/incendiarism14
Equipment and vehicle use13
Misuse of fire by a minor10
Smoking9
Debris and open burning3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Fireworks1
Natural1

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
6 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
5 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
5 September 1994Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSanta Clara UnitANZA
5 September 1992Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresSanta Clara UnitHALLOCK
3 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2014Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreSanta Clara UnitWILDCAT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Alameda County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 32 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 32 workings within 5 miles of Berkeley: 14 occurrences, 8 past producers, 4 producers, 4 unknowns. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Mercury, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Lead. 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
Berkeley HillsSulfur-Pyrite, Copper, LeadPast ProducerGalena, Pyrite
Kaiser Industries CorpClayProducer
Tunnel RockStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Tunnel RockStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Unnamed LocationAsbestosOccurrence
Unnamed LocationAsbestosOccurrence
Berkeley HillsLeadUnknown
Unnamed LocationLeadOccurrence
Ada Sand and Gravel Pit No 2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Moller PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Alameda County

Storms near this place

6 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Berkeley in 6 storm reports between 1998 and 2022: 4 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 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
January 2017HailBerkeley$10Pea sized hail reported by spotter. Several other reports of pea sized hail also.
December 2022Heavy RainBerkeley-Trained spotter reported 4.45 inches of rain from 5 PM on December 30 to 5 PM on December 31.
March 2018HailBerkeley-Pea-sized hail reported in north Berkeley via social media.
March 2018HailBerkeley-Social media reports of another round of hail this morning in Berkeley.
April 2018HailBerkeley-Small hail reported in Berkeley.
January 1998Flash FloodBerkeley-basement flooded

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
Normandy Village0.5 miles40
Rochedale Village0.8 miles37
Westbrae1.0 miles40
La Loma Park1.0 miles40
West Berkeley1.4 miles37
Cragmont1.5 miles40
South Berkeley1.6 miles37
Claremont1.6 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 BerkeleyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q484678The 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 1658037. 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.