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East Palo Alto, California

51 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Mateo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94303. It stands on San Francisquito Creek. The Survey maps it on the Palo Alto quadrangle. 30,034 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.

East Palo Alto within San Mateo County

Then and now

1897 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of East Palo Alto, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of East Palo Alto, surveyed 1897

Compare 1897 against another survey:

Population over time

3 figures

East Palo Alto grew from 18,727 to 30,034 between 1970 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
197018,727
201028,155
202030,034+1,879 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

22 surveys from 51 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

141 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 141 fires within 5 miles of East Palo Alto between 1992 and 2020, burning about 116 acres in total. None started naturally. 13 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/undetermined89
Smoking13
Arson/incendiarism13
Equipment and vehicle use11
Misuse of fire by a minor8
Debris and open burning6
Recreation and ceremony1

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
8 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
5 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
5 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
5 September 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
19 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
18 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
15 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
13 September 1997Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitBECKER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Mateo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 14 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of East Palo Alto: 5 producers, 5 past producers, 3 unknowns, 1 occurrence. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Salt. 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
Palo Alto Sewage SludgeGold, Silver, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Copper, Tin, PalladiumOccurrenceAsh
Redwood City OperationHaliteProducer
Granite RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Granite RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Kaiser GypsumGypsum-AnhydriteProducerSedimentary
Kaiser GypsumGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Redwood City OperationSaltPast Producer
Redwood City PlantSaltProducer
Page Mill QuarryStoneProducer
QuarryStoneProducer

Every working recorded in San Mateo County

Storms near this place

7 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names East Palo Alto in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 3 flash flood, 3 flood, 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
October 2004Thunderstorm WindEast Palo Alto$50,000no account filed
December 2024FloodEast Palo Alto-Northbound US Highway 101 was flooded at the Willow Road offramp.
December 2016FloodEast Palo Alto-Roadway flooding reported on SR85N and Moffett Boulevard Offramp.
December 2014FloodEast Palo Alto-US-101 closed in both directions due to flooding in Menlo Park between Willow and Marsh exits.
February 1998Flash FloodEast Palo Alto-San Francisquito Creek
February 1998Flash FloodEast Palo Alto-San Francisquito Creek
February 1998Flash FloodEast Palo Alto-San Francisquito Creek

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
Runnymeade (historical)0.3 miles51
Ravenswood0.6 miles51
The Willows0.9 miles51
Belle Haven1.1 miles51
Cooley Landing1.2 miles52
Menlo Oaks1.4 miles51
Vintage Oaks1.4 miles51
Henderson1.5 miles51

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 East Palo AltoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q988697The 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 1658461. 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.