BlockBefore

Freedom, California

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Watsonville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95076. It stands on Casserly Creek. The Survey maps it on the Watsonville West quadrangle. 3,835 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 125 feet above sea level.

Freedom within Santa Cruz County

Then and now

1912 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 83 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Freedom, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Freedom, surveyed 1912

Compare 1912 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Freedom grew from 3,070 to 3,835 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
20103,070
20203,835+765 (+25%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 27 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

561 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 561 fires within 5 miles of Freedom between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,050 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 53 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/undetermined270
Equipment and vehicle use116
Debris and open burning65
Arson/incendiarism53
Misuse of fire by a minor25
Power generation/transmission/distribution10
Recreation and ceremony9
Smoking9
Natural4

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
9 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionFREEDOM BL PAJARO_VALLEY
9 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionGREEN
9 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitVALLEY
9 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitSAN ANDREAS
9 September 1999Naturalunder an acreEllicott Slough National Wildlife RefugeCARSON
8 September 2013Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitTHURWACHTER
8 September 2003Debris and open burningunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitPAULSEN
7 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitPARAISO

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Cruz County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Freedom: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Cabrillo Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Santa Cruz County

Storms near this place

2 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Freedom in 2 storm reports between 2012 and 2017: 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2012Flash FloodFreedom$500The water levels on the Corralitos Creek at Freedom gauge reached 12.45 feet. Flooding begins at levels of 12.0 feet at this location.
February 2017Flash FloodFreedom-Corralitos Creek at Freedom gauge above flood stage.

Every storm recorded in Santa Cruz 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
Colache Town1.4 miles27
Watsonville1.9 miles27
Amesti2.0 miles27
Larkin Valley2.3 miles27
Interlaken2.4 miles27
Nuga (historical)3.1 miles27
Ellicott3.5 miles27
Johnston Corner3.6 miles27

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 FreedomAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2033190The 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 1658576. 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.