Chula Vista, California
32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the San Diego census division. It lies in ZIP code area 91910. It stands on Paradise Creek. The Survey maps it on the National City quadrangle. 275,487 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 66 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1904 to 1996The same ground, surveyed 92 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1904 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresChula Vista grew from 243,916 to 275,487 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 | 243,916 | |
| 2020 | 275,487 | +31,571 (+13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 32 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.
- 1904 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1930 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:62500
- 1944 USGS National City quadrangle1:31680
- 1950 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS National City quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1967 USGS National City quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1979 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1996 USGS National City quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
385 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 385 fires within 5 miles of Chula Vista between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,456 acres in total. None started naturally. 66 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 | 230 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 66 |
| Smoking | 21 |
| Debris and open burning | 21 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 17 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 16 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 13 |
| Fireworks | 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 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 9 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 2005 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 7 September 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 6 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 15 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Chula Vista: 15 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Salt, Bentonite, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Brick Company | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Otay Bentonite Deposit | Bentonite | Past Producer | Bentonite | |
| Standard Oil Mine | Bentonite | Past Producer | ||
| Chollas Valley Salt Co. | Salt | Past Producer | ||
| Chula Vista Evaporators | Salt | Past Producer | ||
| Sweetwater Creek | Salt | Past Producer | ||
| Beyer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Beyer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Mosto Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Nelson & Sloan Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
8 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chula Vista in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2014: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 1 lightning, 1 waterspout. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2000 | Lightning | Chula Vista | $25,000 | no account filed |
| February 2004 | Flash Flood | Chula Vista | $10,000 | no account filed |
| February 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chula Vista | $8,000 | ABC news 10 reported straight line winds estimated at 60 mph, which brought down a large tree onto a condominium in Chula Vista. A nearby mesonet station at Coronado Cays recorded a wind gust of 58 mph, though radar showed an intense line segment overhead to support a wet microburst of stronger winds aloft. |
| February 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chula Vista | $5,000 | no account filed |
| February 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Chula Vista | - | Numerous reports of a funnel cloud near the 805 Freeway were received at about 1050 AM. As the funnel cloud continued to lower from the cloud base, some motorists stopped and exited their vehicles on the side of the freeway to get a better look at it. There was one report from a trained spotter that the funnel cloud touched down and became a tornado very briefly. There were no reports of damage. A photo published in a local newspaper confirms the funnel cloud made it at least three quarters of the way to the ground. |
| January 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Chula Vista | - | Unstable conditions in advance of a weak, upper-level low pressure trough, spawned a funnel cloud just southwest of Chula Vista. |
| January 2001 | Waterspout | Chula Vista | - | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Wildfire | Chula Vista | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunny Vista | 0.9 miles | 32 | |
| Lynwood Hills | 1.8 miles | 32 | |
| Boal | 1.8 miles | 32 | |
| Lincoln Acres | 2.0 miles | 32 | |
| Harbor Side | 2.1 miles | 32 | |
| Castle Park | 2.2 miles | 32 | |
| Fruitdale | 2.7 miles | 32 | |
| National City | 2.7 miles | 32 |
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 Chula Vista | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q49270 | 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 1660481. 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.











