Felton, California
32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the San Lorenzo Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95018. It stands on Bull Creek. The Survey maps it on the Felton quadrangle. 4,489 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 285 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1902 to 1998The 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.


On record in Felton
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
Felton Covered Bridgelisted 1973
Felton Presbyterian Churchlisted 1978
Population over time
2 figuresFelton grew from 4,057 to 4,489 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 | 4,057 | |
| 2020 | 4,489 | +432 (+11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
15 surveys from 32 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.
- 1902 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Felton quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1991 USGS Felton quadrangle1:24000
- 1998 USGS Felton quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
577 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 577 fires within 5 miles of Felton between 1992 and 2020, burning about 844 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 56 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 | 247 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 130 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 56 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 42 |
| Debris and open burning | 34 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 24 |
| Smoking | 19 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 15 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
| Other causes | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | HERMON |
| 9 September 2013 | Smoking | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | CREEKSIDE AV ZAYANTE |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | MARTIN |
| 9 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | P.G.&E.#14 |
| 8 September 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | LAKE |
| 8 September 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | ROAD |
| 8 September 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | QUAIL HOLLOW |
| 8 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | PG&E #4 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 40 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 40 workings within 5 miles of Felton: 16 past producers, 11 occurrences, 8 producers, 5 unknowns. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, Dimension, Gold, Limestone, General. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Supply Co | Flagstone | Unknown | ||
| Felton Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Lone Star Industries Inc. | Limestone, General, Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Clay | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Unnamed Location | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Bachellor Ranch Quarry | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Bonny Doon Limestone Quarry | Limestone, General | Producer | ||
| Calplatti Quarry | Limestone, General | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Decomposed Granite Pit | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Decomposed Granite Pit | Granite | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Felton in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 2 flash flood, 2 debris flow, 1 heavy rain, 1 hail. The reports record 1 death. 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 1998 | Flash Flood | Felton | 1 killed, $500,000 | Flash flood po San Lorenzo River from Felton to Santa Cruz. |
| January 2011 | Heavy Rain | Felton | $15,000 | At approximately 5:04 p.m. PST State Route 9 was closed from 1.2 miles north of Felton to 2.4 miles north of Felton due to downed power lines. The roadway reopened at 5:56 a.m. on January 3, 2011. |
| December 2012 | Debris Flow | Felton | $1,000 | Heavy rain caused a mudslide which blocked the southbound lanes of Felton Empire Road, near Bonny Doon. |
| January 2024 | Flood | Felton | $10 | A landslide was reported near Felton Empire Road and Fetherston Way. |
| March 2018 | Hail | Felton | - | Small hail reported in Felton. |
| January 2017 | Debris Flow | Felton | - | Mud dirt and rock across roadway at Felton Empire Rd and Bennett Creek Trail. |
| February 1998 | Flash Flood | Felton | - | San Lorenzo at Felton |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Hermon | 0.8 miles | 32 | |
| Brackney | 1.3 miles | 32 | |
| Olympia | 1.5 miles | 32 | |
| Glen Arbor | 1.7 miles | 32 | |
| Mission Springs | 2.4 miles | 32 | |
| Camp Evers | 2.6 miles | 32 | |
| Ben Lomond | 2.7 miles | 32 | |
| Rincon | 2.9 miles | 32 |
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 Felton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2495480 | 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 277512. 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.














