BlockBefore

Lancaster, California

29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the North Antelope Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93534. The Survey maps it on the Lancaster West quadrangle. 173,516 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,359 feet above sea level.

Lancaster within Los Angeles County

Then and now

1915 to 1981

The same ground, surveyed 66 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Lancaster, surveyed 1981
Topographic sheet of Lancaster, surveyed 1915

On record in Lancaster

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 2 records

Population over time

3 figures

Lancaster grew from 26,012 to 173,516 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
196026,012
2010156,633
2020173,516+16,883 (+11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 29 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

752 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 752 fires within 5 miles of Lancaster between 2005 and 2020, burning about 598 acres in total. None started naturally. 123 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/undetermined470
Arson/incendiarism123
Misuse of fire by a minor68
Smoking57
Equipment and vehicle use17
Debris and open burning16
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreLos Angeles County Fire Departmentnot named
7 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLos Angeles County Fire Departmentnot named
6 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2005Missing 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 Los Angeles County

Storms near this place

9 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lancaster in 9 storm reports between 1998 and 2013: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 flood, 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
August 2013Thunderstorm WindLancaster-California Highway Patrol reported downed power lines along 4th Street East and East Avenue L4 due to thunderstorm winds. Wind gusts were estimated to be around 60 MPH.
September 2007Thunderstorm WindLancaster-A trained spotter in the community of Lancaster reported a severe thunderstorm with winds in excess of 60 MPH. The thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and 5-inch diameter branches along the Antelope Valley Freeway between Avenue N and 50th Street East.
July 2006Flash FloodLancaster-California Highway Patrol reported flash flooding in the community of Lancaster from Avenue K to the Kern County border.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindLancaster-A severe thunderstorm produced damaging winds in the community of Lancaster. Local law enforcement reported trees blown down at the intersection of Avenue J and 20th street due to thunderstorm winds.
May 1999Flash FloodLancaster-A strong thunderstorm produced flash flooding across eastern sections of the Antelope Valley. California Highway Patrol reported flooding around the intersection of Highway 138 and 165th Street.
August 1998FloodLancaster-Strong thunderstorms produced heavy rain and street flooding across the Antelope Valley. Several spotters in the city of Lancaster reported widespread street flooding.
August 1998Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Strong thunderstorms winds knocked down 10 power poles in the city of Lancaster.
July 2003HailLancaster-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Los Angeles 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
Sunrise1.7 miles29
Oban5.3 miles32
Quartz Hill5.6 miles30
Rancho Vista6.9 miles29
Desert View Highlands7.4 miles29
Del Sur8.1 miles31
Palmdale8.3 miles30
Antelope Acres9.0 miles30

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 LancasterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q494711The 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 1652741. 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.

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.