Bishop, California
26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1913 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Bishop census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93514. The Survey maps it on the Bishop quadrangle. 3,819 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,150 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1913 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 81 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Bishop
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
Laws Narrow Gauge Railroad Historic Districtlisted 1981
Population over time
2 figuresBishop fell from 3,879 to 3,819 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 | 3,879 | |
| 2020 | 3,819 | -60 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 26 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.
- 1913 USGS Bishop quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Bishop quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1951 USGS Bishop quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1963 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS Bishop quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Bishop quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Bishop quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
199 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 199 fires within 5 miles of Bishop between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,768 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 11 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 | 92 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 37 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 18 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Smoking | 11 |
| Natural | 10 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | HWY 395 / WARM SPRINGS R |
| 3 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | BISHOP AIRPORT BISHOP_F 4 |
| 22 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | RIVER |
| 20 September 2014 | Natural | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | BROCKMAN LN / DIXON LN 3 |
| 19 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | ROSSI # 2 |
| 19 September 1994 | Natural | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | POLELINE |
| 17 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | DIXON |
| 15 September 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | HWY 168 / MUMY RD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 16 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of Bishop: 10 past producers, 6 producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Tungsten, Antimony, Tungsten, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laws Custom Mill | Kaolin, Clay | Producer | ||
| Yaney | Tungsten, Gold | Past Producer | Ferberite | |
| Yaney Mine | Tungsten, Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Bishop Antimony Mine | Antimony | Producer | ||
| Bishop Antimony Mine | Antimony | Past Producer | ||
| Rossi | Tungsten | Past Producer | Scheelite | |
| Rossi | Tungsten | Past Producer | ||
| Rossi | Tungsten | Past Producer | ||
| Adams Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Brockman Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
15 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bishop in 15 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 hail, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2010 | Heavy Rain | Bishop | $20,000 | Heavy rain produced minor flooding of numerous streets and several yards in Bishop. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bishop | $10,000 | Two trees were blown down by thunderstorm outflow winds. One tree landed on a mobile home. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bishop | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and limbs in Bishop. |
| July 1997 | Flash Flood | Bishop | $10,000 | Flash flooding occurred in several washes on the west slopes of the White Mountains causing some damage to roads. |
| March 2019 | Flash Flood | Bishop | $5,000 | The intersection of Sunland Dr and Gerkin Rd south of Bishop was flooded, with debris in the road and minor damage to the edge of the road. |
| July 2023 | Flood | Bishop | $1,000 | Tungsten City Road near Bishop was closed due to flooding. Note that this was strictly snowmelt flooding. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bishop | $1,000 | Outflow winds from distant thunderstorms blew down numerous tree branches|onto Highway 395 near West Bishop, closing the road for a short while. A weather station about six miles away recorded a gust of 60 mph. |
| June 2016 | Lightning | Bishop | $1,000 | Lightning started a fire near the gun club just north of West Bishop. |
| July 2016 | Flash Flood | Bishop | $1,000 | Two feet of water covered Hobbs Circle. Water in the storm drain blew off a manhole cover and spouted like a geyser. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bishop | $1,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew a large tree down onto Highway 395. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bishop | $1,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew down 6-8 inch tree branches. |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bishop | $1,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew a tree onto Sunland Lane, blocking half of the road. The Bishop ASOS recorded a peak gust of 56 mph several minutes before the tree fell. |
| March 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Bishop | - | There were several public reports of a landspout tornado. Additional information was gathered from the local newspaper in Bishop California. |
| October 2010 | Hail | Bishop | - | The largest stones were penny size; most stones were smaller. |
| July 2015 | Hail | Bishop | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop Trail Park | 0.2 miles | 26 | |
| Brockmans Corner | 2.2 miles | 26 | |
| Sunland (historical) | 2.2 miles | 26 | |
| West Bishop | 3.2 miles | 26 | |
| Oteys Sierra Village | 3.4 miles | 26 | |
| Poleta | 3.7 miles | 26 | |
| Laws | 3.7 miles | 26 | |
| Rocking K | 4.6 miles | 26 |
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 Bishop | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q852658 | 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 277475. 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.









