El Cerrito, California
39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Elsinore Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92881. It stands on Bedford Wash. The Survey maps it on the Corona South quadrangle. 5,058 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 860 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1901 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1901 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresEl Cerrito fell from 5,100 to 5,058 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 | 5,100 | |
| 2020 | 5,058 | -42 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
17 surveys from 39 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.
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1902 USGS Corona quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Corona quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Corona and Vicinity quadrangle1:31680
- 1943 USGS Corona quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Corona South quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Corona South quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1974 USGS Corona South quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:100000
- 1997 USGS Corona South quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
552 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 552 fires within 5 miles of El Cerrito between 1992 and 2020, burning about 13,387 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 51 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 | 254 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 133 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 51 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 19 |
| Smoking | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 15 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 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 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | ANDOVER ST HOMG |
| 8 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Riverside Unit | DAWSON |
| 8 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | STATE#1413 |
| 8 September 1992 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Riverside Unit | STATE 1391 |
| 6 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Riverside Unit | STATE |
| 30 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 acres | Riverside Unit | GROVEWOOD DR ELCE |
| 3 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 3 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Riverside Unit | STATE FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 121 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 121 workings within 5 miles of El Cerrito: 79 past producers, 14 producers, 14 prospects, 12 occurrences. 14 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gypsum-Anhydrite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Mine | Kaolin | Past Producer | ||
| Big Basin Copper Prospect | Copper, Gold, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Middlesworth Clay Deposit | Clay, Aluminum | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Sierra Grande Quarries | Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Temescal Canyon Scheelite Occur. | Tungsten | Occurrence | ||
| Temescal Quarry | Limestone, General | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Limestone Prospect | Limestone, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Corona Lead-Zinc | Lead, Antimony, Silver, Zinc | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Corona Lead-Zinc Mine | Lead, Antimony, Silver, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Cajalco Dumortierite Occurrence | Kyanite | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
5 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names El Cerrito in 5 storm reports between 1997 and 2019: 2 flood, 2 flash 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2019 | Flash Flood | El Cerrito | $70,000,000 | Heavy rainfall of 3 to 6 inches occurred in 12 hours and up to 1 inch per hour rates. This was the most significant flash flooding and debris flows since the December 6, 2018 event. The Holy fire scar flooded and sent debris flows through Temescal Canyon road and into homes and over roadways. Riverside County reported up to 70 million dollars in flood control structure damage in the 8 canyons affected. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | El Cerrito | $25,000 | Power lines downed by strong outflow winds. |
| January 2019 | Flash Flood | El Cerrito | $20,000 | Flash flooding from heavy rainfall over Holy fire scar in Trilogy parkway and Glen Eden with water going around homes. |
| January 2017 | Flood | El Cerrito | - | Numerous reports of urban street flooding throughout the Inland Empire that produced significant impacts for the evening commute. |
| December 1997 | Flood | El Cerrito | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pepper Corner | 1.7 miles | 39 | |
| Weisel | 2.4 miles | 44 | |
| Home Gardens | 2.6 miles | 38 | |
| Porphyry | 2.6 miles | 38 | |
| Corona | 3.3 miles | 38 | |
| May | 4.1 miles | 43 | |
| Arcilla | 4.6 miles | 44 | |
| La Sierra | 5.7 miles | 43 |
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 Cerrito | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3458276 | 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 1656502. 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.
















