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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.

Lafayette within Contra Costa County

Then and now

1897 to 1995

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Lafayette, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Lafayette, surveyed 1897

Population over time

3 figures

Lafayette 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.

YearPeople Change
19607,114
201023,893
202025,391+1,498 (+6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

21 surveys from 42 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

263 since 1992

Regional 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/undetermined112
Equipment and vehicle use50
Smoking35
Arson/incendiarism23
Misuse of fire by a minor19
Debris and open burning13
Power generation/transmission/distribution7
Natural2
Recreation and ceremony2

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
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara UnitSAINT MARYS RD MORAGA
8 September 2008Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara UnitBEAR
5 September 2011Power generation/transmission/distribution9.0 acresSanta Clara UnitBOLLINGER
5 September 2008Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2011Smokingunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Contra Costa County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Clark & SonsClayProspect
N. M. Ball SonsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unnamed LocationCalciumProspect
El Cerrito Stege, HutchinsonStoneOccurrence
Henry J. KaiserStoneUnknown
Henry J. Kaiser Co.StonePast Producer
Henry J. Kaiser Co.StonePast Producer
Henry J. Kaiser CompanyStoneOccurrence
N. M. Ball SonsStoneOccurrence
BallStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence

Every working recorded in Contra Costa County

Storms near this place

1 since 2018

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2018HailLafayette-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Contra Costa 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
Rheem1.8 miles42
Saranap2.2 miles42
Glorietta3.1 miles42
Walnut Creek3.1 miles42
Orinda3.3 miles41
Moraga3.6 miles42
Walnut Heights3.6 miles42
Orinda Village4.1 miles41

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 LafayetteAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q284803The 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.