Elkhorn, California
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Castroville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95012. It lies near Swiss Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Prunedale quadrangle. 1,588 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 10 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1915 to 1983The same ground, surveyed 68 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1915 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresElkhorn grew from 1,565 to 1,588 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 | 1,565 | |
| 2020 | 1,588 | +23 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 25 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.
- 1915 USGS San Juan Bautista quadrangle1:48000
- 1917 USGS San Juan Bautista quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1939 USGS San Juan Bautista quadrangle1:62500
- 1940 USGS San Juan Bautista quadrangle1:62500
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Prunedale quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
305 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 305 fires within 5 miles of Elkhorn between 1992 and 2020, burning about 290 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 14 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 | 119 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 98 |
| Debris and open burning | 38 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 14 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 10 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Smoking | 7 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| 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 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | ELKHORN |
| 8 September 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | SHERRY |
| 8 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | PG&E 31 |
| 7 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | CABEU003655 |
| 7 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | MELUGAN |
| 30 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | CABEU003693 |
| 3 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | RODRIGUEZ |
| 29 September 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Elkhorn: 3 past producers, 2 plants, 1 occurrence, 1 producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Stone, Titanium, Chromium, Magnesite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arca Roofing Tile Plant | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Monterey Bay Salt Works | Salt | Producer | ||
| Moss Landing Brick Plant | Magnesite | Plant | ||
| Moss Landing Magnesia Plant | Chromium, Magnesite | Plant | ||
| Triumph Steel Co | Titanium | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Mine | Stone | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elkhorn in 3 storm reports in 2017: 2 flood, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2017 | Flood | Elkhorn | - | Kirby Rd at Elkhorn Rd. Part of road washed away. |
| January 2017 | Flash Flood | Elkhorn | - | Three feet of water in roadway near Paradise Rd/Lakeview Dr intersection. |
| February 2017 | Flood | Elkhorn | - | Ellkhorn Rd at Springpoint Rd...road is flooding. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moss Landing | 2.8 miles | 26 | |
| Las Lomas | 2.8 miles | 25 | |
| Moss | 3.0 miles | 26 | |
| Oak Hills | 3.5 miles | 25 | |
| Castroville | 4.1 miles | 26 | |
| Watsonville Junction | 4.9 miles | 27 | |
| Prunedale | 5.0 miles | 25 | |
| Dunbarton (historical) | 5.5 miles | 25 |
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 Elkhorn | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2655751 | 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 277507. 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.











