BlockBefore

Modesto, California

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Modesto census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95354. It stands on Dry Creek. The Survey maps it on the Riverbank quadrangle. 218,464 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 89 feet above sea level.

Modesto within Stanislaus County

Then and now

1916 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Modesto, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Modesto, surveyed 1916

On record in Modesto

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 6 records

Population over time

2 figures

Modesto grew from 201,165 to 218,464 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.

YearPeople Change
2010201,165
2020218,464+17,299 (+9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 17 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

1,292 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,292 fires within 5 miles of Modesto between 2005 and 2020, burning about 14,500 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 132 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/undetermined1063
Arson/incendiarism132
Misuse of fire by a minor36
Smoking22
Equipment and vehicle use18
Debris and open burning14
Natural4
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Recreation and ceremony1

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 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras Unitnot named
9 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras Unitnot named
9 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTuolumne-Calaveras Unitnot named
9 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras Unitnot named
8 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras Unitnot named
7 September 2018Missing 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 Stanislaus County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Modesto: 2 unknowns, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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
Unnamed LocationClayOccurrence
Graystone Block CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Putnam Sand and Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Stanislaus County

Storms near this place

10 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Modesto in 10 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 6 flood, 2 funnel cloud, 2 tornado. 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 2006FloodModesto$250,000no account filed
April 2006Tornado (F1)Modesto$15,000no account filed
March 2023FloodWest Modesto-Mudslide on SR 99 North and 6th onramp. Onramp closed.
December 2022FloodWest Modesto-CHP reported SR99 N and Kansas Ave onramp in Modesto flooding, with lanes 1 and 3 flooded. SR99 was closed in both directions through around midnight.
December 2022FloodSouth Modesto-Second and third lanes completely flooded with 2 feet of water on Highway 99 and Tuolumne Boulevard off ramp.
December 2022FloodWest Modesto-Roadway flooding at Highway 99 and Kansas Avenue off ramp with 6 to 8 inches of water in the slow lane and right hand side of the road.
March 2005Tornado (F0)Modesto-no account filed
May 2005Funnel CloudModesto-no account filed
May 1998Funnel CloudModesto-no account filed
February 1996FloodModesto-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Stanislaus 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
Bystrom1.4 miles20
Aurora1.5 miles20
Shackelford1.8 miles20
Riverside2.6 miles17
Standiford3.5 miles20
Riverdale Park3.6 miles19
Ceres3.7 miles20
Harp4.1 miles20

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 ModestoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q204561The 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 277609. 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.