Buena Vista, California
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Jackson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95640. The Survey maps it on the Ione quadrangle. 542 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 295 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1889 to 1993The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresBuena Vista grew from 429 to 542 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 | 429 | |
| 2020 | 542 | +113 (+26%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 28 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.
- 1889 USGS Jackson quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Jackson quadrangle1:125000
- 1897 USGS Jackson quadrangle1:125000
- 1902 USGS Jackson quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1941 USGS Sutter Creek quadrangle1:62500
- 1944 USGS Sutter Creek quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Sutter Creek quadrangle1:62500
- 1962 USGS Ione quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Sutter Creek quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1993 USGS San Andreas quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
335 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 335 fires within 5 miles of Buena Vista between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,060 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 18 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 | 137 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 109 |
| Debris and open burning | 35 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 18 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Natural | 6 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
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 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | PARDEE |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | 10 acres | Amador-El Dorado Unit | 0WENS |
| 9 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | TWIN |
| 8 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | LAKEVIEW |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Amador-El Dorado Unit | 124 |
| 6 September 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | G2C |
| 6 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.0 acres | Central California District | FRENCH |
| 6 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | POND |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 185 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 185 workings within 5 miles of Buena Vista: 57 occurrences, 39 past producers, 34 producers, 34 prospects. 34 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Gold, Copper, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campo Seco | Copper, Gold, Silver, Zinc | Producer | ||
| Ellis Property | Chromium, Iron | Prospect | ||
| Fancher | Gold, Clay | Producer | ||
| Glo-Bar Mines | Gold, Silver | Producer | ||
| Hayward | Copper, Silver, Gold, Zinc | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Pyrite, Sphalerite | |
| Ione Pit and Mill | Zirconium, Titanium, Kaolin | Producer | 1954 | |
| Mooney | Gemstone, Quartz | Occurrence | ||
| Mooney | Gemstone | Prospect | ||
| Newton | Copper, Silver, Gold, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | 1863 | |
| Newton | Copper, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | Underground |
Storms near this place
2 since 2025Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buena Vista in 2 storm reports between 2025 and 2026: 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | Flood | Buena Vista | - | California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding at Buena Vista Road and Coal Mine Road. |
| December 2025 | Flood | Buena Vista | - | California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding from heavy rain. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firebrick | 2.8 miles | 28 | |
| Camanche Village | 3.6 miles | 28 | |
| Sunnybrook | 3.9 miles | 28 | |
| Ione | 4.2 miles | 28 | |
| Chinatown (historical) | 4.2 miles | 28 | |
| Dagon | 4.3 miles | 28 | |
| Lancha Plana (historical) | 4.8 miles | 30 | |
| Clarksona | 6.6 miles | 28 |
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 Buena Vista | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3473942 | 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 252642. 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.













