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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.

El Cajon within San Diego County

Then and now

1893 to 1996

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 El Cajon, surveyed 1996
Topographic sheet of El Cajon, surveyed 1893

Compare 1893 against another survey:

Population over time

3 figures

El 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.

YearPeople Change
1920469
201099,478
2020106,215+6,737 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

18 surveys from 42 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

508 since 1992

Regional 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/undetermined314
Equipment and vehicle use71
Arson/incendiarism53
Misuse of fire by a minor29
Recreation and ceremony15
Debris and open burning14
Smoking10
Fireworks1
Natural1

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 2010Arson/incendiarism1.1 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Diego National Wildlife RefugeSYCUAN
9 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresSan Diego National Wildlife RefugePAR
8 September 2008Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2006Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSan Diego National Wildlife RefugeJAMACHA
8 September 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Diego National Wildlife RefugeCREEK
7 September 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Diego UnitWILLOW GLEN
6 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Diego Unitnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Diego County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 62 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Coyote Mountains Nickel ProspectNickelOccurrenceGarnierite
Coyote Mtn Gypsum & SSulfur, Gypsum-AnhydriteProducerGypsum
El Granito Mineral SpringsGeothermalProducer
Olswick ProspectThorium, UraniumProspect
Echo MineMolybdenumOccurrence
FernbrookMolybdenumOccurrenceMolybdenite
Independent Stone Co QuarryStoneProducer
Unnamed QuarryStonePast Producer
Unnamed QuarryStonePast Producer
WoolseyMolybdenumOccurrenceMolybdenite

Every working recorded in San Diego County

Storms near this place

8 since 2002

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2003WildfireEl Cajon4 hurtno account filed
February 2004Flash FloodEl Cajon1 hurt, $20,000no account filed
November 2002FloodEl Cajon$300,000no account filed
February 2005Flash FloodEl Cajon$30,000no account filed
September 2014Thunderstorm WindEl Cajon$15,000Several 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 2022Heavy RainEl Cajon-A trained spotter reported 1.43 inch of storm total rainfall from November 8.
November 2022FloodEl 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 2003WildfireEl Cajon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Diego 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
Cajon Heights0.8 miles42
Bostonia1.6 miles42
Alta (historical)1.7 miles42
Grossmont1.8 miles42
Mount Helix2.1 miles42
Hillsdale2.1 miles42
Calavo Gardens2.2 miles42
Winter Gardens2.9 miles42

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 CajonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q369947The 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.