Brea, California
47 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Anaheim-Santa Ana-Garden Grove census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92821. The Survey maps it on the La Habra quadrangle. 47,325 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 361 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1896 to 1983The same ground, surveyed 87 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1896 against another survey:
On record in Brea
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
Brea City Hall and Parklisted 1984
Population over time
2 figuresBrea grew from 39,282 to 47,325 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 | 39,282 | |
| 2020 | 47,325 | +8,043 (+20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
20 surveys from 47 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.
- 1896 USGS Anaheim quadrangle1:62500
- 1898 USGS Anaheim quadrangle1:62500
- 1901 USGS Anaheim quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1902 USGS Corona quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1927 USGS La Habra quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1935 USGS Coyote Hills quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Anaheim quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS La Habra quadrangle1:24000
- 1952 USGS La Habra quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS La Habra quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS La Habra quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
160 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 160 fires within 5 miles of Brea between 2004 and 2020, burning about 203 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 31 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 | 77 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 31 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 16 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 16 |
| Smoking | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2009 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 27 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 27 September 2005 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 26 September 2010 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 25 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 25 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 acres | Orange County Fire Authority | CARBON FIRE |
| 22 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Brea: 4 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Geothermal. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alvardo Hot Springs | Geothermal | Occurrence | ||
| J. A. Houlihan Property | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Prospect | ||
| La Habra Sand & Gravel Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Lindauer & Sopns | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Lindauer Corp | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Lindauer Deposit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brea in 2 storm reports between 2004 and 2005: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2005 | Flash Flood | Brea | $100,000 | Four homes were flooded in Brea. One resident had to temporarily relocate as a result of the damage. |
| April 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brea | $5,000 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oleo (historical) | 1.2 miles | 48 | |
| Brea Chem | 1.6 miles | 46 | |
| Sunny Hills | 2.2 miles | 47 | |
| La Habra | 2.7 miles | 47 | |
| Daum (historical) | 3.3 miles | 43 | |
| Olinda (historical) | 3.4 miles | 46 | |
| Placentia | 3.4 miles | 46 | |
| Fullerton | 3.5 miles | 44 |
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 Brea | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q302612 | 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 1660373. 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.



















