Crescent City, California
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1929 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Crescent City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95531. It lies near Elk Valley. The Survey maps it on the Crescent City quadrangle. 6,673 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 43 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1929 to 1983The same ground, surveyed 54 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Crescent City
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 3 records
BROTHER JONATHAN (Shipwreck Site)listed 2002
Cresent City Lighthouselisted 1983
St. George Reef Light Stationlisted 1993
Population over time
2 figuresCrescent City fell from 7,643 to 6,673 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 | 7,643 | |
| 2020 | 6,673 | -970 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 21 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.
- 1929 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:125000
- 1945 USGS Point St. George quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1952 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1966 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1983 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
488 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 488 fires within 5 miles of Crescent City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 230 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 29 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 211 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 138 |
| Debris and open burning | 43 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 29 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 25 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 24 |
| Smoking | 8 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Fireworks | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | MICHAGIN |
| 8 September 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Redwood National and State Parks | ENDERTS BEACH #8 |
| 8 September 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | BURTSCHELL |
| 7 September 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Redwood National and State Parks | CRESCENT BEACH 14 |
| 7 September 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Redwood National and State Parks | CRESCENT BEACH 13 |
| 7 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | CREEK |
| 6 September 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | HUMBOLDT RD / HODGE AVE |
| 6 September 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Redwood National and State Parks | CRESCENT BEACH 12 |
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 Crescent City: 6 producers, 4 occurrences, 4 past producers, 1 unknown. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Platinum. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crescent City Beach | Gold, Platinum, Titanium, Metal, Iron, Chromium | Producer | 1855, 1914 | |
| Crescent City Beach Deposits | Chromium, Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Uvaldon V Miller | Clay | Producer | ||
| Elk Valley Quarry #1 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Elk Valley Quarry #2 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Elk Valley Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Rellim Redwood Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sarina | Gold, Platinum | Past Producer | ||
| Smith River Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Yates Beach Mine | Gold, Platinum | Unknown |
Storms near this place
8 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Crescent City in 8 storm reports between 1996 and 2022: 2 wildfire, 2 heavy rain, 1 tornado, 1 rip current. The reports record 1 death. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2001 | Rip Current | Crescent City | 1 killed | A youth visiting the beach with a group from Ashland, Oregon was swept of a rock at Preston Island by a large wave. Currents then carried the youth about 100 yards offshore where deputies lost visual contact. |
| February 2017 | Heavy Rain | Crescent City | $600,000 | Culvert failures between mile post 20 and 28 along Highway 101. |
| February 2017 | Heavy Rain | Crescent City | $200,000 | Culvert failures along Highway 101 from mile post 26 to 27. |
| November 2022 | Hail | Crescent City | $5,000 | Auto accident due to hail covered roads. No injuries. |
| January 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Crescent City | $1,000 | no account filed |
| December 2002 | Funnel Cloud | Crescent City | - | Spotters reported numerous cold air funnels over the Pacific Ocean near Crescent City. |
| July 2002 | Wildfire | Crescent City | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Wildfire | Crescent City | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tatlatunne (historical) | 1.4 miles | 21 | |
| Pacific Shores | 6.9 miles | 21 | |
| Hiouchi | 7.3 miles | 16 | |
| Douglas Park | 7.7 miles | 16 | |
| Fort Dick | 8.2 miles | 21 | |
| Tryon Corner | 8.9 miles | 18 | |
| Yontocket | 10.5 miles | 18 | |
| Smith River | 12.2 miles | 18 |
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 Crescent City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q166866 | 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 277494. 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.









