Keene, California
27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Tehachapi census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93531. It stands on Water Canyon Creek. The Survey maps it on the Keene quadrangle. 469 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,602 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1914 to 1992The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1914 against another survey:
On record in Keene
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 1 record
Nuestra, Senora Reina de la PazNational Historic Landmark · listed 2011
Population over time
2 figuresKeene grew from 431 to 469 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 | 431 | |
| 2020 | 469 | +38 (+9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 27 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.
- 1914 USGS Caliente quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1943 USGS Cummings Mountain quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1948 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Keene quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS Tehachapi quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Keene quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
77 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 77 fires within 5 miles of Keene between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,745 acres in total. 1 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 | 38 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 19 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 5 September 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.3 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 3 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Central California District | PICKUP |
| 28 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 27 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 26 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 25 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 18 September 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0488 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 18 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Keene: 5 prospects, 5 past producers, 5 occurrences, 2 unknowns. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Mercury, Copper, Tungsten, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helen-Joyce Prospect | Copper, Lead, Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Keene Deposit | Limestone, General | Past Producer | ||
| King Solomon Prospect | Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Powell Mine | Copper, Lead, Silver, Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Top of the World | Tungsten, Antimony | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Top of the World Mine | Antimony | Prospect | ||
| Mayflower Mine | Gold | Producer | ||
| Oracle Prospect | Tungsten | Occurrence | ||
| Oracle Prospect | Tungsten | Unknown | ||
| Shoestring Prospect | Gold | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
2 since 2019Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Keene in 2 storm reports between 2019 and 2025: 1 debris flow, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2025 | Flash Flood | Keene | - | CHP reporting Woodford Tehachapi Rd / Woodford Ofr to be closed due to flooding. |
| January 2019 | Debris Flow | Keene | - | Public reports of several large rocks on the Caliente Bodfish Road and Caliente Creek Road Fork northeast of Caliente. |
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.
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 Keene | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2658906 | 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 1660828. 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.










