BlockBefore

Irvine, California

47 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Central Coast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92612. It stands on Sand Canyon Wash. The Survey maps it on the Tustin quadrangle. 307,670 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 56 feet above sea level.

Irvine within Orange County

Then and now

1896 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 87 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Irvine, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Irvine, surveyed 1896

Compare 1896 against another survey:

On record in Irvine

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 3 records

Population over time

9 figures

Irvine grew from 10,081 to 277,462 between 1971 and 2019. 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
197110,081
198060,600+50,519 (+501%)
1990109,700+49,100 (+81%)
2000141,200+31,500 (+29%)
2010212,375+71,175 (+50%)
2016255,045+42,670 (+20%)
2017264,703+9,658 (+4%)
2018272,462+7,759 (+3%)
2019277,462+5,000 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

20 surveys from 47 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

186 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 186 fires within 5 miles of Irvine between 2005 and 2020, burning about 49 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 36 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/undetermined98
Arson/incendiarism36
Smoking28
Equipment and vehicle use9
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Debris and open burning5
Natural2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
5 September 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreOrange County Fire Authoritynot named
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2018Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOrange County Fire Authoritynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Irvine: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Salt, Clay. 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
Los Angeles Pressed Brick Co.ClayPast Producer
Salt PondsSaltPast Producer

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this place

12 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Irvine in 12 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 4 flood, 3 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud. 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
January 2005Flash FloodIrvine$50,000no account filed
February 2005Flash FloodIrvine$15,000no account filed
February 1998LightningIrvine$10,000no account filed
March 2016Thunderstorm WindEast Irvine$5,000A resident in Irvine posted a youtube video of tree damage in Irvine at Kazan Street. Numerous very large tree branches down, some on top of cars. Branches look about a half foot in diameter with some branches about 20 feet in length. One tree branch broke an apartment window.
November 2025FloodIrvine-A public source reported full closure of northbound 405 on ramp due to flooding.
March 2024FloodIrvine-Report from a trained spotter: The Sand Canyon Wash was overflowing into Mason Park at the time of report.
February 2024FloodIrvine-The San Canyon Wash overflowed, which led to flooding in parts of Mason Park in Irvine.
January 2016Thunderstorm WindEast Irvine-Thunderstorm wind gust estimated at 60 mph by a trained spotter.
February 2003Flash FloodIrvine-no account filed
April 2001FloodIrvine-no account filed
November 1997Funnel CloudIrvine-no account filed
November 1997Tornado (F1)Irvine-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Orange 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
Como2.6 miles47
The Meadows2.9 miles47
Paularino3.1 miles47
Dyer3.3 miles47
East Irvine3.4 miles47
South Santa Ana3.8 miles47
Aliso4.0 miles47
Villa Valencia4.0 miles47

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 IrvineAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q49219The 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 1660804. 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.