Encinitas, California
50 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Diego census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92024. The Survey maps it on the Encinitas quadrangle. 62,007 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 82 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1893 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 104 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:
On record in Encinitas
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 2 records
Bumann Ranchlisted 2020
Encinitas Boathouseslisted 2019
Population over time
3 figuresEncinitas grew from 2,786 to 62,007 between 1960 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 2,786 | |
| 2010 | 59,518 | |
| 2020 | 62,007 | +2,489 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
17 surveys from 50 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 Oceanside quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1898 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1901 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:62500, 8 printings
- 1901 USGS San Luis Rey quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Encinitas quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Encinitas quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 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
- 1968 USGS Encinitas quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1982 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Encinitas quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
45 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 45 fires within 5 miles of Encinitas between 1993 and 2020, burning about 329 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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 | 25 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 12 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Smoking | 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 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 24 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | San Diego Unit | BERNARDO |
| 15 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | LEWIS |
| 5 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 27 August 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | GOLF CART |
| 16 August 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 12 August 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Diego Unit | REPOSA |
| 11 August 2019 | 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
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Encinitas: 2 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Clay, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gemstone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moonlight Beach Deposit | Gemstone | Occurrence | ||
| Ponto Beach Deposit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Ponto Beach Deposit Abizaid | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Gladding Mcbean & Co. Mine | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Huchting Ranch Deposit | Clay | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
14 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Encinitas in 14 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 4 flood, 3 flash flood, 2 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 27 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2003 | Rip Current | Encinitas | 25 hurt | no account filed |
| December 2000 | High Surf | Encinitas | 2 hurt | no account filed |
| April 2020 | Flash Flood | Encinitas | $70,000 | Encinitas Police Department is reporting 12 incidents of flooding and flash flooding in Encinitas. Several people have been evacuated from homes in the Encinitas Blvd/Quail Gardens Road area. Twenty persons evacuated from a nursing home. Debris flow also in flooded area up to window of structure at Sunshine Gardens Apartments. |
| February 2004 | Flash Flood | Encinitas | $30,000 | no account filed |
| January 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Encinitas | $15,000 | A squall produced a short burst of 50-65 mph winds between Cardiff by the Sea and Lake Hodges. The mesonet station at Elfin Forest reported a peak wind gust of 64 mph. Tree damage was also reported. |
| March 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Encinitas | $1,500 | A waterspout came ashore in Encinitas and blew down a few trees before dissipating. One of the trees fell across some railroad tracks and temporarily halted train traffic. |
| March 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Encinitas | $1,000 | A large tree was downed near Weidners Garden. |
| February 2024 | Flood | Encinitas | - | Flooding reported at Vulcan Ave and Hygeia Ave. 1 to 1.35 inches of rain in past 6 hours and up to 0.50 in 1 hour. |
| January 2024 | Flood | Encinitas | - | I-5 North/Leucadia South slow lane had standing water and dirt following a landslide in the area. One inch of rain fell in the prior 3 hours. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Encinitas | - | Escondido Creek overflowed, and flooded fields and parking areas alongside the river and Rancho Santa Fe Road. |
| April 2020 | Flash Flood | Encinitas | - | Flash flooding and debris on Encinitaas Blvd at Quail Gardens Road. Power lines fell into the water and were hazardous. |
| January 1998 | Waterspout | Encinitas | - | no account filed |
| January 1998 | Tornado (F1) | Encinitas | - | no account filed |
| November 1998 | Flood | Encinitas | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiff-by-the-Sea | 1.2 miles | 50 | |
| Leucadia | 2.2 miles | 50 | |
| Olivenhain | 3.1 miles | 43 | |
| Solana Beach | 3.4 miles | 22 | |
| Eden Gardens | 3.9 miles | 22 | |
| La Costa | 4.0 miles | 50 | |
| Rancho Santa Fe | 4.9 miles | 43 | |
| Del Mar | 5.5 miles | 22 |
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 Encinitas | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q532711 | 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 1652705. 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.
















