El Cajon, California
42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the San Diego census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92020. The Survey maps it on the El Cajon quadrangle. 106,215 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 433 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1893 to 1996The 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.


Compare 1893 against another survey:
Population over time
3 figuresEl Cajon grew from 469 to 106,215 between 1920 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 469 | |
| 2010 | 99,478 | |
| 2020 | 106,215 | +6,737 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
18 surveys from 42 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 El Cajon quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1967 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
- 1979 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1996 USGS El Cajon quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
508 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 508 fires within 5 miles of El Cajon between 1992 and 2020, burning about 998 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 53 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 | 314 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 71 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 53 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 29 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Natural | 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 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.1 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego National Wildlife Refuge | SYCUAN |
| 9 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | San Diego National Wildlife Refuge | PAR |
| 8 September 2008 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Diego National Wildlife Refuge | JAMACHA |
| 8 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego National Wildlife Refuge | CREEK |
| 7 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | WILLOW GLEN |
| 6 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 62 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 62 workings within 5 miles of El Cajon: 37 past producers, 19 producers, 4 occurrences, 1 prospect. 19 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gold. 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 | |
| Coyote Mtn Gypsum & S | Sulfur, Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | Gypsum | |
| El Granito Mineral Springs | Geothermal | Producer | ||
| Olswick Prospect | Thorium, Uranium | Prospect | ||
| Echo Mine | Molybdenum | Occurrence | ||
| Fernbrook | Molybdenum | Occurrence | Molybdenite | |
| Independent Stone Co Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Woolsey | Molybdenum | Occurrence | Molybdenite |
Storms near this place
8 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names El Cajon in 8 storm reports between 2002 and 2022: 2 flood, 2 wildfire, 2 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 5 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2003 | Wildfire | El Cajon | 4 hurt | no account filed |
| February 2004 | Flash Flood | El Cajon | 1 hurt, $20,000 | no account filed |
| November 2002 | Flood | El Cajon | $300,000 | no account filed |
| February 2005 | Flash Flood | El Cajon | $30,000 | no account filed |
| September 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | El Cajon | $15,000 | Several trees and a light pole fell on two parked trucks in a shopping center near the intersection of Calle Verde and Avocado Blvd in La Mesa. The tree also damaged the awnings and door of the McDonalds. |
| November 2022 | Heavy Rain | El Cajon | - | A trained spotter reported 1.43 inch of storm total rainfall from November 8. |
| November 2022 | Flood | El Cajon | - | Periods of moderate rainfall fell across the San Diego metro area on the afternoon of November 8. The following are received reports of flooding:|The Department of Highways reported flooding along SR 67 and the off ramp towards Bradley Ave. Rainfall of 0.5 inch was reported in three hours.|The Department of Highways reported flooding across the on ramp to I-15 south at Rancho Bernardo Road, with one stalled vehicle. |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | El Cajon | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cajon Heights | 0.8 miles | 42 | |
| Bostonia | 1.6 miles | 42 | |
| Alta (historical) | 1.7 miles | 42 | |
| Grossmont | 1.8 miles | 42 | |
| Mount Helix | 2.1 miles | 42 | |
| Hillsdale | 2.1 miles | 42 | |
| Calavo Gardens | 2.2 miles | 42 | |
| Winter Gardens | 2.9 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 El Cajon | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q369947 | 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 1652701. 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.

















