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Foster City, California

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Mateo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94404. It lies near Brewer Island. The Survey maps it on the San Mateo quadrangle. 33,805 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7 feet above sea level.

Foster City within San Mateo County

Then and now

1892 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Foster City, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Foster City, surveyed 1892

Compare 1892 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Foster City grew from 30,567 to 33,805 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.

YearPeople Change
201030,567
202033,805+3,238 (+11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

22 surveys from 43 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

196 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 196 fires within 5 miles of Foster City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 92 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 17 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/undetermined112
Equipment and vehicle use25
Smoking22
Arson/incendiarism17
Misuse of fire by a minor8
Debris and open burning6
Recreation and ceremony4
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
6 September 1996Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitOYSTER POINT
6 September 1993Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitPIPE
5 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
5 September 2008Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
4 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.1 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitBEL AIRE RD THE_HIGHLAND
4 September 2015Equipment and vehicle use9.5 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitCRYSTAL
4 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Mateo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 31 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 31 workings within 5 miles of Foster City: 17 producers, 14 past producers. 17 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Salt, Halite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Redwood City OperationHaliteProducer
San Francisco Bay DredgeCalciumProducer
Redwood City OperationSaltPast Producer
Redwood City PlantSaltProducer
Redwood City PlantSaltProducer
Britton RanchStoneProducer
Britton RanchStonePast Producer
QuarryStoneProducer
QuarryStoneProducer
QuarryStonePast Producer

Every working recorded in San Mateo County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Redwood Shores2.2 miles36
Hayward Park2.3 miles43
Hillsdale2.4 miles43
Belmont2.7 miles43
Laurel2.7 miles43
San Mateo2.9 miles43
Belle Monte3.0 miles43
San Carlos3.6 miles43

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 Foster CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q988691The 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 1659723. 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.