Goleta, California
22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1942 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Santa Barbara census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93117. It stands on Las Vegas Creek. The Survey maps it on the Goleta quadrangle. 32,690 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1942 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 53 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Goleta
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
Goleta Depotlisted 2002
Stow Houselisted 2000
Population over time
2 figuresGoleta grew from 29,888 to 32,690 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 | 29,888 | |
| 2020 | 32,690 | +2,802 (+9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 22 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.
- 1942 USGS Goleta quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Goleta quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1951 USGS Goleta quadrangle1:24000
- 1955 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1966 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS Goleta quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Santa Barbara quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1995 USGS Goleta quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
102 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 102 fires within 5 miles of Goleta between 1992 and 2020, burning about 14,861 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 | 60 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 25 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Other causes | 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 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
| 6 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | GAP |
| 30 September 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | TROUT |
| 29 September 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | PEDRO |
| 28 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | WINDY |
| 25 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 22 September 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | VAN |
| 13 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | WINDY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Goleta: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Dimension. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Marcos Pass Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Ellwood Ranch Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Santa Barbara Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Goleta in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 3 flash flood, 2 flood, 2 debris flow. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | Flash Flood | Goleta | 1 killed | Heavy rainfall generated flash flooding from Maria Ygnacio Creek. One man was swept down the creek and drowned. His body was found in the creek near the intersection of San Marcos Road and Via Parva. |
| February 2024 | Debris Flow | Goleta | - | Heavy rainfall resulted in a mudslide across Turnpike Road near Cathedral Oaks Road. |
| March 2024 | Debris Flow | Goleta | - | California Highway Patrol reported a large boulder across Highway 154 near Painted Cave Road. |
| January 2023 | Flash Flood | Goleta | - | Heavy rainfall produced flash flooding along Highway 46 near Painted Cave Road. The flash flooding resulted in a mudslide across the roadway. |
| January 2001 | Flood | Goleta | - | no account filed |
| February 2000 | Flash Flood | Goleta | - | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Flood | Goleta | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Patera | 0.8 miles | 22 | |
| Coromar | 2.1 miles | 22 | |
| Isla Vista | 2.4 miles | 22 | |
| El Encano Heights | 3.0 miles | 24 | |
| El Sueno | 3.0 miles | 22 | |
| Hope Ranch | 3.2 miles | 22 | |
| Ellwood | 3.2 miles | 24 | |
| Irma | 4.0 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 Goleta | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q983840 | 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 1660687. 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.










