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Colma, California

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the South San Francisco census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94014. It lies near San Bruno Mountain. The Survey maps it on the San Francisco South quadrangle. 1,507 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 121 feet above sea level.

Colma within San Mateo County

Then and now

1892 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Colma, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Colma, surveyed 1892

Compare 1892 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Colma fell from 1,792 to 1,507 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
20101,792
20201,507-285 (-16%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

22 surveys from 43 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

379 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 379 fires within 5 miles of Colma between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,532 acres in total. None started naturally. 32 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/undetermined230
Smoking46
Arson/incendiarism32
Misuse of fire by a minor24
Equipment and vehicle use22
Debris and open burning10
Recreation and ceremony8
Power generation/transmission/distribution6
Fireworks1

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 2009Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2003Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaHWY 1 VEG
7 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined12 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionBRUNO
7 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined41 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitCHESTNUT 2
7 September 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitA1

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Mateo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 38 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 38 workings within 5 miles of Colma: 19 past producers, 18 producers, 1 occurrence. 18 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Silver. 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
Unnamed LocationGypsum-AnhydriteProducerSedimentary
Unnamed LocationGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Black MountainGoldPast Producer
Black Mtn.GoldPast ProducerGold
Marine Magnes Div.MagnesiteProducer
Marine Magnes Div.MagnesitePast Producer
Marine Magnesium Co. Seawater PlantMagnesiteProducer
Marks Materials Inc.CalciumProducer
RockawayCalciumProducer
RockawayCalciumPast Producer

Every working recorded in San Mateo County

Storms near this place

7 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Colma in 7 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 5 flood, 1 heavy rain, 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
February 2000Heavy RainColma$2,000,000The roof of a Home Depot collapsed due to the accumulation of heavy rain flooding the interior of the stor with 6 inches of rain and exposing the interior to continuing rain.
December 2025Thunderstorm WindColma-An Ambient Weather station reported a gust of 60.6 mph.
November 2025FloodColma-Roadway flooding was reported at the offramp from southbound Interstate 280 at Eastmoore Boulevard. The offramp was completely flooded with 12 inches of water on the road.
December 2024FloodColma-All three lanes of northbound State Highway 35 flooded south of the connector to State Highway 1.
January 2021FloodColma-Roadway flooding near I-280 N and Serramonte Blvd.
January 2020FloodColma-Foot and a half of water on off ramp of I-280 S and Eastmoor Ave, vehicle stuck in water.
November 2018FloodColma-Roadway flooding at I 280N at Exit 47.

Every storm recorded in San Mateo 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
Sholun1.0 miles43
Broadmoor1.4 miles43
Broadmoor Village1.4 miles43
Westlake1.8 miles43
Daly City2.0 miles43
Edgemar2.3 miles43
Westborough2.3 miles43
Baden2.3 miles43

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 ColmaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q987296The 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 1658303. 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.