El Rio, California
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Oxnard census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93036. It lies near Harmon Barranca. The Survey maps it on the Oxnard quadrangle. 7,037 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 92 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1904 to 1982The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresEl Rio fell from 7,198 to 7,037 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 | 7,198 | |
| 2020 | 7,037 | -161 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 24 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.
- 1904 USGS Hueneme quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Hueneme quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Hueneme quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Oxnard quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1951 USGS Oxnard quadrangle1:24000
- 1955 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1966 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Santa Barbara quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
69 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 69 fires within 5 miles of El Rio between 2005 and 2020, burning about 322 acres in total. None started naturally. 5 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 | 46 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2006 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Ventura County Fire Department | not named |
| 4 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 26 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 15 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 15 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 4 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Ventura County Fire Department | not named |
| 31 August 2005 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of El Rio: 5 past producers, 5 producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ventura Rock & Sand Co. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| El Rio Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| El Rio Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| El Rio Pit #2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Knoll Site | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Saticoy Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Saticoy Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Saticoy Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Southern Pacific Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names El Rio in 3 storm reports between 2001 and 2024: 1 flood, 1 tornado, 1 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2024 | Flash Flood | El Rio | - | Flooding closed Vineyard Avenue between Montgomery Avenue and Central Avenue. |
| January 2005 | Tornado (F0) | El Rio | - | A California Highway Patrol officer reported a weak tornado in the community of El Rio. No damage or injuries were reported. |
| November 2001 | Flood | El Rio | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nyland | 1.7 miles | 24 | |
| Strickland Acres | 1.7 miles | 26 | |
| Kimball | 2.0 miles | 26 | |
| Montalvo | 2.5 miles | 26 | |
| Cabrillo Village | 2.7 miles | 26 | |
| Oxnard | 2.7 miles | 24 | |
| Saticoy | 3.3 miles | 26 | |
| West Saticoy | 3.4 miles | 26 |
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 Rio | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2796218 | 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 1652703. 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.










