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Imperial Beach, California

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the San Diego census division. It lies in ZIP code area 91932. It lies near Otay Valley. The Survey maps it on the Imperial Beach quadrangle. 26,137 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.

Imperial Beach within San Diego County

Then and now

1904 to 1996

The same ground, surveyed 92 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Imperial Beach, surveyed 1996
Topographic sheet of Imperial Beach, surveyed 1904

Compare 1904 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Imperial Beach fell from 26,324 to 26,137 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
201026,324
202026,137-187 (-1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 32 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

224 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 224 fires within 5 miles of Imperial Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 608 acres in total. None started naturally. 34 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/undetermined128
Arson/incendiarism34
Recreation and ceremony29
Smoking10
Debris and open burning9
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Equipment and vehicle use6
Fireworks1

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 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Diego National Wildlife RefugeSEACOAST 2
6 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
4 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Diego Unitnot named
25 September 2007Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
23 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
23 September 2008Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Diego County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 17 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Imperial Beach: 16 past producers, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Salt, Gemstone, Bentonite. 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
Chula Vista EvaporatorsSaltPast Producer
Imperial BeachGemstoneOccurrence
Otay Bentonite DepositBentonitePast ProducerBentonite
Beyer PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Beyer PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Border Highlands PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Border Highlands PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Border PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Dairymart PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Grey PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in San Diego County

Storms near this place

7 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Imperial Beach in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 1 storm surge/tide, 1 wildfire. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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
January 2005Heavy RainImperial Beach1 killedno account filed
January 2017Thunderstorm WindImperial Beach1 hurt, $1,000,000A severe squall produced a swath of 60-70 mph winds from Imperial Beach to Lawson Creek. At least 6 mesonet stations reported peak wind gusts in excess of 58 mph including a 68 mph gust at Lawson Creek and 64 mph gust at Boarder Field. Hundreds of trees were downed. Roof damage was also reported. One person was injured when a tree fell on their car in Lakeside.
December 1998Storm Surge/TideImperial Beach$1,000no account filed
March 2025Thunderstorm WindImperial Beach-Public reported the top 10 feet of 40 foot palm tree snapped.
January 2023FloodImperial Beach-Four feet of flowing water was reported on Saturn Blvd from the Tijuana River. A stolen SUV was found in the water, though no one was seen near the vehicle; speculated that the vehicle had been stolen.
June 2002WildfireImperial Beach-no account filed
December 1998Funnel CloudImperial Beach-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Diego 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
South San Diego0.9 miles32
Coronado Heights (historical)1.4 miles27
Palm City1.5 miles32
Nestor1.6 miles32
Fruitdale1.6 miles32
Boal2.4 miles32
Harbor Side2.5 miles32
Otay2.7 miles32

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 Imperial BeachAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q917531The 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 1660788. 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.