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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.

Isla Vista within Santa Barbara County

Then and now

1942 to 1995

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Isla Vista, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Isla Vista, surveyed 1942

Population over time

2 figures

Isla 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.

YearPeople Change
201023,096
202015,500-7,596 (-33%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 22 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

55 since 1994

Regional 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/undetermined43
Equipment and vehicle use4
Debris and open burning3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Arson/incendiarism1
Recreation and ceremony1

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
8 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named
12 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
27 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
20 August 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined11 acresSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named
8 July 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
31 July 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
24 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Barbara County Fire Departmentnot named
23 July 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Barbara 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 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Ellwood Ranch QuarrySand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Santa Barbara PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Santa Barbara County

Storms near this place

1 since 2004

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2004Flash FloodIsla Vista-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Santa Barbara 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
Coromar1.5 miles22
Ellwood1.9 miles24
La Patera1.9 miles22
El Encano Heights2.1 miles24
Goleta2.4 miles22
Orchams4.5 miles24
Hope Ranch4.8 miles22
El Sueno5.2 miles22

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 VistaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1674054The 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.