Lafayette, California
42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Central Contra Costa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94549. It stands on Lafayette Creek. The Survey maps it on the Walnut Creek quadrangle. 25,391 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 320 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1897 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
3 figuresLafayette grew from 7,114 to 25,391 between 1960 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 7,114 | |
| 2010 | 23,893 | |
| 2020 | 25,391 | +1,498 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
21 surveys from 42 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.
- 1897 USGS Concord quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1915 USGS Concord quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Concord quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Concord quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Walnut Creek quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Walnut Creek quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Concord quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Walnut Creek quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS Walnut Creek quadrangle1:24000
- 1995 USGS Walnut Creek quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
263 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 263 fires within 5 miles of Lafayette between 1992 and 2020, burning about 337 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 23 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 | 112 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 50 |
| Smoking | 35 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 23 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 19 |
| Debris and open burning | 13 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
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 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | SAINT MARYS RD MORAGA |
| 8 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | BEAR |
| 5 September 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9.0 acres | Santa Clara Unit | BOLLINGER |
| 5 September 2008 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 3 September 2011 | Smoking | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
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 Lafayette: 8 occurrences, 6 past producers, 2 prospects, 1 unknown. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Calcium, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clark & Sons | Clay | Prospect | ||
| N. M. Ball Sons | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Calcium | Prospect | ||
| El Cerrito Stege, Hutchinson | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Henry J. Kaiser | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Henry J. Kaiser Co. | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Henry J. Kaiser Co. | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Henry J. Kaiser Company | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| N. M. Ball Sons | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Ball | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
1 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lafayette in 1 storm report in 2018: 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2018 | Hail | Lafayette | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rheem | 1.8 miles | 42 | |
| Saranap | 2.2 miles | 42 | |
| Glorietta | 3.1 miles | 42 | |
| Walnut Creek | 3.1 miles | 42 | |
| Orinda | 3.3 miles | 41 | |
| Moraga | 3.6 miles | 42 | |
| Walnut Heights | 3.6 miles | 42 | |
| Orinda Village | 4.1 miles | 41 |
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 Lafayette | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q284803 | 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 277535. 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.




















