BlockBefore

Milpitas, California

29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the San Jose census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95035. It stands on Arroyo De Los Coches. The Survey maps it on the Milpitas quadrangle. 80,273 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.

Milpitas within Santa Clara County

Then and now

1889 to 1978

The same ground, surveyed 89 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Milpitas, surveyed 1978
Topographic sheet of Milpitas, surveyed 1889

On record in Milpitas

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

Milpitas grew from 6,572 to 80,273 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
19606,572
201066,790
202080,273+13,483 (+20%)

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

123 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 123 fires within 5 miles of Milpitas between 1992 and 2020, burning about 709 acres in total. None 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/undetermined82
Equipment and vehicle use18
Smoking6
Arson/incendiarism6
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Debris and open burning4
Recreation and ceremony2
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
9 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
6 September 2010Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
3 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSanta Clara UnitSIERRA
28 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
28 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Clara 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 Milpitas: 7 past producers, 5 producers, 4 unknowns, 2 prospects. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Dimension, Clay. 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
Garden City Pottery Co.ClayPast ProducerSedimentary
Garden City Pottery Co.ClayPast Producer
Roggasch Bros.Stone, Crushed/BrokenProspect
Serpa QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Calaveras Road PitStone, DimensionUnknown
Scott Creek PitStone, DimensionUnknown
Stevens Creek QuarryStone, DimensionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Santa Clara County

Storms near this place

5 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Milpitas in 5 storm reports between 2010 and 2024: 4 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
April 2024FloodMilpitas$10Around 1 foot of water was reported on westbound California Highway 237 just east of Zanker.
March 2018FloodMilpitas-Roadway flooding at I 680N and Scott Creek Road off ramp.
February 2017FloodMilpitas-Roadway flooding Interstate 680 Northbound Scott Creek Rd off ramp.
February 2017FloodMilpitas-Roadway flooding reported at NB 680 at Jacklin on ramp.
January 2010Thunderstorm WindMilpitas-A microburst interrupted a passenger airliner's approach into San Francisco International Airport. After the 140 passenger jet encountered the microburst it diverted to and landed safely at the San Jose International Airport.

Every storm recorded in Santa Clara 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
Mobilodge of Milpitas1.7 miles29
Wayne3.0 miles29
Agnew3.6 miles29
Alviso3.6 miles29
Berryessa3.8 miles32
Heinlenville (historical)5.3 miles28
Santa Clara5.7 miles28
East Foothills5.7 miles32

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 MilpitasAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q927510The 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 1659759. 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.