Calimesa, California
36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the San Gorgonio Pass census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92320. The Survey maps it on the Yucaipa quadrangle. 10,026 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,392 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1899 to 1996The same ground, surveyed 97 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1899 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresCalimesa grew from 7,879 to 10,026 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 | 7,879 | |
| 2020 | 10,026 | +2,147 (+27%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
15 surveys from 36 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.
- 1899 USGS Redlands quadrangle1:62500
- 1901 USGS Redlands quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Redlands quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Yucaipa quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Yucaipa quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1982 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:100000
- 1996 USGS Yucaipa quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
940 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 940 fires within 5 miles of Calimesa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 33,647 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 106 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 | 377 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 246 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 106 |
| Smoking | 71 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 70 |
| Debris and open burning | 36 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 13 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 7 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2019 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | VALLEY VIEW MHP YUCAIPA_C |
| 9 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Desert District | UNNAMED FIRE 2720 |
| 8 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Riverside Unit | W OAK VALLEY PY / POTRERO |
| 8 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | WEST BOUND |
| 8 September 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Riverside Unit | STATE FIRE |
| 8 September 1995 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | RUTHERFORD |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55 acres | Southern California Agency | BANNING INC. |
| 7 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | FREEWAY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Calimesa: 2 occurrences, 1 producer, 1 past producer, 1 prospect. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Granite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Pauper's Dream and Quidunc | Copper, Gold | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Pauper's Dream and Quindunc Group | Gold, Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Poway Pit | Granite | Producer | ||
| Bald Eagle Mining Co. | Gold | Prospect |
Storms near this place
12 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Calimesa in 12 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 5 flash flood, 3 wildfire, 1 hail, 1 funnel cloud. The reports record 11 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2002 | Wildfire | Calimesa | 10 hurt, $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Calimesa | 1 hurt | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Flash Flood | Calimesa | $500,000 | no account filed |
| January 2010 | Flash Flood | Calimesa | $100,000 | San Bernardino County Public Works reported debris and mud in several homes in Yucaipa beginning around 1236 PST and continuing through about 1400 PST. The flash flooding may have knocked over power lines along Wildwood Canyon Road near 2nd Street. The flash flood was a result of heavy rain in the region. Large amounts of water and mud flowed out of the hills to the east of Yucaipa and through the Wildwood Canyon Wash. It is likely that the majority of the flooding was due to the wash overflowing. |
| January 2005 | Flash Flood | Calimesa | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Calimesa | $25,000 | Two structures were damaged. One roof collapsed and one roof had damage near the intersection of Calimesa Blvd and Interstate 10. |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Calimesa | $20,000 | no account filed |
| January 2010 | Flash Flood | Calimesa | $10,000 | San Bernardino County Works reported a debris flow on Pendleton Road in Yucaipa. The hills just above the road had been burned in the 2009 Pendleton Fire. The street was closed off due to flooding, but no other damage was reported. Mud was as deep as 4 feet in some locations. |
| May 2008 | Hail | Calimesa | $5,000 | A tornadic thunderstorm left a swath of hail up to several inches deep from north of Moreno Valley to Perris. Snow plows were called out to clear the hail from Interstate 10. While most of the hailstones were pea-size, several reports of marble to nickel size hail were received from Moreno Valley just prior to the tornadoes. The larger hailstones left holes in awnings and stripped leaves from trees. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Calimesa | - | Heavy rainfall fell across eastern portions of the Inland Empire the evening of March 14 through the afternoon on March 15. Rainfall of 1.00-2.25 was reported, and multiple reports of flooding were received via the Department of Highways: Cherry Valley Blvd at Roberts Road was flooded, as well as three lanes of Highway 60. |
| December 2021 | Flash Flood | Calimesa | - | State Highway 38 closed at Bryant street in Yucaipa to Lake Williams east of Big Bear due to rock and debris flows. Heavy rain occurred past few hours in the afternoon. |
| October 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Calimesa | - | Spotter RIV256 in Yucaipa observed a white rotating funnel cloud at 1613 PST extending a quarter of the way down the distance between the storm cloud and the ground. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Casco | 3.4 miles | 38 | |
| Hinda | 3.5 miles | 38 | |
| Nicklin | 4.9 miles | 38 | |
| Cherry Valley | 5.0 miles | 45 | |
| Ordway | 5.6 miles | 39 | |
| Moonlight Rim | 5.9 miles | 37 | |
| Moreno Knolls | 6.0 miles | 38 | |
| Highland Springs | 6.8 miles | 45 |
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 Calimesa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2346469 | 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 1667904. 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.














