Lebec, California
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1995. It lies in ZIP code area 93243. It lies near Bear Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Lebec quadrangle. 1,239 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,481 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1903 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 92 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1903 against another survey:
On record in Lebec
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
Fort Tejonlisted 1971
Population over time
2 figuresLebec fell from 1,468 to 1,239 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 | 1,468 | |
| 2020 | 1,239 | -229 (-16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 25 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.
- 1903 USGS Tejon quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1945 USGS Lebec quadrangle1:31680
- 1949 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Lebec quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1966 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Lancaster quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1991 USGS Lebec quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1995 USGS Lebec quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
102 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 102 fires within 5 miles of Lebec between 1993 and 2020, burning about 15,029 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 6 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 | 58 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 19 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Natural | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.3 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 3 September 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 acres | Los Padres National Forest | GORMAN |
| 27 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 305 acres | Los Padres National Forest | GORMAN |
| 25 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 24 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 23 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0824 |
| 21 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | POLE |
| 18 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.5 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Lebec: 2 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Clay, Iron. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Portland Inc. | Limestone, General, Clay | Producer | ||
| Lake Castaic | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Lake Castaic | Iron, Tin | Occurrence | ||
| Cuddy Creek | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Frazier Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
19 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lebec in 19 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 6 debris flow, 4 flood, 3 heavy rain, 3 wildfire. The reports record 1 death. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 1997 | Heavy Rain | Lebec | 1 killed | In heavy rain, a car hydroplaned off Interstate-5 near Lebec into a swollen creek adjacent to the road. Before a rescue could be accomplished one of the vehicle's occupants was swept downstream. |
| June 2003 | Wildfire | Lebec | $1,590,000 | The Tejon Fire burned 1155 acres in the Tehachapi Mountains of Kern County at a cost of $1.59M. One travel trailer was destroyed but no fatalities occurred. |
| October 2005 | Flash Flood | Lebec | $25,000 | no account filed |
| October 2025 | Flood | Lebec | - | CHP reports rocks in roadway on Southbound Interstate 5 at Fort Tejon Road. |
| January 2023 | Debris Flow | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported boulders on I-5 south of the Lebec Rest Stop. |
| February 2023 | Flood | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported rocks up to 3 feet in diameter washed up on Interstate 5 north of Lebec. |
| August 2023 | Flood | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding on Lebec Rd. from Frazier Mountain Park Rd. to Landfill Rd. |
| August 2023 | Debris Flow | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported a large rock on Interstate 5 south of Lebec. |
| August 2023 | Flash Flood | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported a rock slide on southbound Interstate 5 just south of Fort Tejon Rd. |
| August 2023 | Flash Flood | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported several large rocks washed up on the Frazier Mountain Park onramp onto Interstate 5. |
| December 2022 | Debris Flow | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported a mudslide at the intersection of Lebec Rd. and Landslide Rd. |
| March 2019 | Debris Flow | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported rocks in the traffic lanes if Interstate 5 at the intersection of Fort Tejon Rd. near Lebec. |
| February 2019 | Debris Flow | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported rocks and boulders on northbound Interstate 5 at the #2 turn near Fort Tejon State Park. |
| February 2017 | Debris Flow | Lebec | - | California Highway Patrol reported 5 to 6 football sized rocks in the southbound lane of Interstate 5 near Lebec. |
| July 2015 | Heavy Rain | Lebec | - | Localized flooding was reported by the California Highway Patrol around Lebec, Ca. This was due in part to heavy rain in the area during the day, with the COOP station in Lebec receiving 1.48 inches of rainfall. However, the area had received some of the most rainfall earlier in the month so very moist antecedent conditions exist as well. |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Lebec | - | The Pump Fire was fought by Kern County Fire Department and burned 747 acres. Its cost and cause is unknown but no fatalities occurred nor were any structures lost. |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Lebec | - | The Tejon Fire burned 1155 acres in the Tehachapi Mountains of Kern County. See the month of June for further details. |
| February 2005 | Heavy Rain | Lebec | - | no account filed |
| March 2001 | Flood | Lebec | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tejon Ranch | 2.5 miles | 27 | |
| Frazier Park | 4.4 miles | 27 | |
| Lake of the Woods | 7.2 miles | 27 | |
| Grapevine | 7.7 miles | 25 | |
| Pinon Pines Estates | 9.5 miles | 29 | |
| Wheeler Ridge | 12.1 miles | 26 | |
| Pine Mountain Club | 15.1 miles | 26 | |
| Mettler | 16.3 miles | 26 |
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 Lebec | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2879536 | 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 272011. 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.










