Crest, California
38 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Diego census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92021. The Survey maps it on the Alpine quadrangle. 2,828 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,312 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1893 to 1997The 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.


Compare 1893 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresCrest grew from 2,593 to 2,828 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 | 2,593 | |
| 2020 | 2,828 | +235 (+9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
17 surveys from 38 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.
- 1893 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Elcajon quadrangle1:62500
- 1901 USGS Elcajon quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Cuyamaca quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1903 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1903 USGS Elcajon quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1939 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:62500
- 1950 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Alpine quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1979 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Alpine quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
574 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 574 fires within 5 miles of Crest between 1992 and 2020, burning about 12,461 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 44 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 | 292 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 130 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 44 |
| Debris and open burning | 35 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 28 |
| Smoking | 18 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 18 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Other causes | 2 |
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 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego National Wildlife Refuge | SYCUAN |
| 8 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | VISTA DE LA MONTANA D 3 |
| 8 September 2011 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | SUMMIT 2 |
| 8 September 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | POWERLINE |
| 8 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | BLOSSOM |
| 8 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | JENNINGS |
| 7 September 2000 | Natural | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | TREE |
| 7 September 2000 | Natural | under an acre | San Diego Unit | LIGHTENING |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 38 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 38 workings within 5 miles of Crest: 16 past producers, 10 occurrences, 9 producers, 3 prospects. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Molybdenum, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coyote Mountains Nickel Prospect | Nickel | Occurrence | Garnierite | |
| Fletcher Deposit | Uranium, Thorium | Prospect | ||
| Hoover Lakeside,Tunner | Gemstone | Producer | ||
| Red Rose Quarry | Quartz | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Sillimanite Occurrence | Kyanite | Occurrence | ||
| Dehesa Deposit | Stone, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Iron Master | Iron | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Iron Master | Iron | Prospect | ||
| Red Rose Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Lost Peg Leg Claim | Gold | Prospect |
Storms near this place
3 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Crest in 3 storm reports between 2004 and 2019: 2 flash flood, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2004 | Flash Flood | Crest | $60,000 | no account filed |
| December 2019 | Flood | Crest | - | Dehesa Road, just east of El Cajon, had debris across the road approximately 3-4 feet wide. |
| December 2014 | Flash Flood | Crest | - | CHP reported a mudslide covering all lanes for 50 yards along Sloan Canyon Road, mud was approximately 18 inches deep. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suncrest | 0.3 miles | 38 | |
| La Cresta | 0.4 miles | 38 | |
| Dehesa | 2.0 miles | 38 | |
| Granite Hills | 2.0 miles | 42 | |
| Harbison Canyon | 2.2 miles | 38 | |
| Johnstown | 2.6 miles | 42 | |
| Glenview | 2.6 miles | 42 | |
| Lakeview | 3.1 miles | 42 |
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 Crest | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2117707 | 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 1853383. 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.
















