BlockBefore

Buellton, California

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Solvang-Santa Ynez census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93427. It stands on Nojoqui Creek. The Survey maps it on the Solvang quadrangle. 5,161 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 358 feet above sea level.

Buellton within Santa Barbara County

Then and now

1905 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 90 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Buellton, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Buellton, surveyed 1905

Compare 1905 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Buellton grew from 4,828 to 5,161 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
20104,828
20205,161+333 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 27 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

51 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 51 fires within 5 miles of Buellton between 2005 and 2020, burning about 420 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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/undetermined40
Debris and open burning6
Equipment and vehicle use4
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
9 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined155 acresSanta Barbara County Fire DepartmentHIGHWAY
30 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named
3 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined14 acresSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named
27 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named
20 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named
1 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named
31 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.2 acresSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Barbara County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Buellton: 8 past producers, 4 occurrences, 2 producers, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Diatomite, Chromium. 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
Limestone DepositLimestone, DimensionPast Producer
Live Oak Shale QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
American ChromeChromiumOccurrence
American Chrome DepositChromiumOccurrenceChromite
Limestone DepositLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Limestone DepositLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Limestone DepositLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Unnamed Diatomite DepositDiatomiteProspect
Unnamed Diatomite DepositsDiatomiteOccurrence
Unnamed Diatomite DepositsDiatomiteOccurrence

Every working recorded in Santa Barbara County

Storms near this place

1 since 2025

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buellton in 1 storm report in 2025: 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 2025Thunderstorm WindBuellton-Strong thunderstorms generated very gusty winds. A large tree was blown down across Highway 101.

Every storm recorded in Santa Barbara 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
Jonata Park2.6 miles25
Solvang3.2 miles27
Ballard4.5 miles26
Los Olivos5.6 miles26
Santa Ynez6.0 miles26
Las Cruces7.5 miles27
Gaviota9.9 miles21
Port Orford10.1 miles21

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 BuelltonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q999905The 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 1667902. 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.