Bonsall, California
31 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Fallbrook census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92003. It lies near Moosa Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Bonsall quadrangle. 4,546 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 180 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1901 to 1982The 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.


Compare 1901 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresBonsall grew from 3,982 to 4,546 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 | 3,982 | |
| 2020 | 4,546 | +564 (+14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 31 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.
- 1901 USGS San Luis Rey quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Temecula quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Bonsall quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Bonsall quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Bonsall quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1982 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
479 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 479 fires within 5 miles of Bonsall between 1992 and 2020, burning about 5,486 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 35 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 | 240 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 117 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 35 |
| Debris and open burning | 27 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 26 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 16 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Natural | 4 |
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 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | GIRD RD / PALA RD 3 |
| 8 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | BRIDGE |
| 7 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | ALTA |
| 7 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7.0 acres | San Diego Unit | CASTER |
| 6 September 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 4.0 acres | San Diego Unit | GOPHER FIRE |
| 5 September 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | San Diego Unit | GOPHER # 1 |
| 4 September 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | SYCAMORE DR / GREEN CANYO |
| 4 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | OLD 4 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 23 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 23 workings within 5 miles of Bonsall: 15 past producers, 3 producers, 3 occurrences, 2 prospects. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gemstone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hogerman Property | Beryllium | Prospect | ||
| Schier Clay Deposit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Schier Clay Deposits | Clay | Prospect | Sedimentary | |
| Freeman Mine | Gemstone | Occurrence | ||
| Mountain Belle Claim | Gemstone | Occurrence | ||
| Vista Chief | Gemstone | Occurrence | ||
| Brown Trucking Dg Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Hi-Hope Ranch Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| National Blue Granite Quarry | Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Vandegrift Boulevard Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bonsall in 7 storm reports between 2001 and 2020: 2 wildfire, 2 flash flood, 2 debris flow, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonsall | $80,000 | Sections of two stable roofs torn off by strong thunderstorm wind gusts at the San Luis Rey Equestrian Training Facility. An NWS employee went to survey and take pictures of the damage. |
| April 2020 | Flash Flood | Bonsall | $10,000 | A car sized boulder was reported on a road in Bonsall. This area had received 3 inches of rain in the past 12 hours and still heavy rainfall occurring at the time. |
| January 2005 | Flash Flood | Bonsall | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2020 | Debris Flow | Bonsall | - | Several boulders completely blocking southbound lane and partially blocking northbound lane. Area has seen just over an inch of rain over 6 hours. |
| March 2014 | Debris Flow | Bonsall | - | Twenty-four hour rainfall as of 0400 PST was 1.38 inches rain at a weather station 3 miles SE of Fallbrook. A large amount of rocks in the roadway has caused the Old Highway 395 on-ramp to south-bound Interstate 15 to be closed. |
| February 2002 | Wildfire | Bonsall | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Wildfire | Bonsall | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Luis Rey Heights | 2.2 miles | 31 | |
| Winterwarm | 3.6 miles | 31 | |
| Pala Mesa | 4.4 miles | 31 | |
| DeLuz | 5.4 miles | 35 | |
| Jofegan | 5.9 miles | 35 | |
| Lawrence Welk Resort Village | 6.0 miles | 40 | |
| Fallbrook | 6.2 miles | 36 | |
| Vista | 6.2 miles | 40 |
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 Bonsall | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2393153 | 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 1660358. 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.












