Morro Bay, California
36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the North Coast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93442. It stands on Little Morro Creek. The Survey maps it on the Morro Bay South quadrangle. 10,757 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 62 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1897 to 1998The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1897 against another survey:
On record in Morro Bay
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
Population over time
2 figuresMorro Bay grew from 10,234 to 10,757 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 | 10,234 | |
| 2020 | 10,757 | +523 (+5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 36 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.
- 1897 USGS Cayucos quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1900 USGS San Luis quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1937 USGS Cayucos quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Cayucos quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1951 USGS Cayucos quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Morro Bay South quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1976 USGS Morro Bay South quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1998 USGS Morro Bay South quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
109 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 109 fires within 5 miles of Morro Bay between 1992 and 2020, burning about 195 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 | 24 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | EMS3CDF/ |
| 29 September 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | P.G.& E. |
| 23 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | DORIS AV LOS_OSOS 4 |
| 21 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | CUESTA |
| 21 September 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | GILARDI |
| 2 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.7 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | SANDALWOOD AVE MB |
| 2 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | MORRO |
| 2 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | HIGHLAND,LOS OSOS |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 32 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 32 workings within 5 miles of Morro Bay: 14 past producers, 8 prospects, 6 producers, 4 occurrences. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Chromium, Manganese. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrisa Mine | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Guerra Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Kester Prospect | Manganese | Occurrence | ||
| Kester Prospect | Manganese | Occurrence | ||
| Morro Rock Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Rodrigues Pit | Stone | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Cienaga Mine | Chromium | Producer | Chromite | |
| Cienaga Mine | Chromium | Prospect | ||
| Mable G Mine | Chromium | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Morro Bay in 2 storm reports in 1998: 1 funnel cloud, 1 waterspout. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Morro Bay | - | A spotter in the Morro Bay area reported a funnel cloud. |
| February 1998 | Waterspout | Morro Bay | - | An observer at Morro Bay reported a waterspout two miles north of Morro Rock. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baywood Park | 2.8 miles | 36 | |
| Cuesta-by-the-Sea | 3.3 miles | 36 | |
| Los Osos | 3.9 miles | 36 | |
| Cayucos | 5.8 miles | 32 | |
| Goldtree | 9.4 miles | 31 | |
| Chorro | 9.5 miles | 31 | |
| Serrano | 10.6 miles | 31 | |
| Thyle | 11.6 miles | 31 |
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 Morro Bay | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q605491 | 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 1661062. 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.













