Isla Vista, 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 lies near Glen Annie Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Goleta quadrangle. 15,500 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 46 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.


Population over time
2 figuresIsla Vista fell from 23,096 to 15,500 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 | 23,096 | |
| 2020 | 15,500 | -7,596 (-33%) |
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
55 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 55 fires within 5 miles of Isla Vista between 1994 and 2020, burning about 93 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was 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 | 43 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
| 12 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 27 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 20 August 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 acres | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
| 8 July 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 31 July 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 24 July 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
| 23 July 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Isla Vista: 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellwood Ranch Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Santa Barbara Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Isla Vista in 1 storm report in 2004: 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2004 | Flash Flood | Isla Vista | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coromar | 1.5 miles | 22 | |
| Ellwood | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| La Patera | 1.9 miles | 22 | |
| El Encano Heights | 2.1 miles | 24 | |
| Goleta | 2.4 miles | 22 | |
| Orchams | 4.5 miles | 24 | |
| Hope Ranch | 4.8 miles | 22 | |
| El Sueno | 5.2 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 Isla Vista | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1674054 | 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 1702880. 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.










