Moss Beach, California
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1947 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Half Moon Bay census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94038. It stands on San Vicente Creek. The Survey maps it on the Montara Mountain OE W quadrangle. 3,214 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 66 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1947 to 1985The same ground, surveyed 38 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Moss Beach
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 within a mile 1 record
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
Point Montara Light Stationlisted 1991 · 0.7 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresMoss Beach grew from 3,103 to 3,214 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 | 3,103 | |
| 2020 | 3,214 | +111 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 15 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.
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
82 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 82 fires within 5 miles of Moss Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 38 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 8 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 | 48 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | SCARPER |
| 28 September 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | 5TH ST / EAST AV |
| 28 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | MADRONA AV EL_GRANADA |
| 27 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 26 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | DEVILS SLIDE TUNNEL SOUTH |
| 25 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | AIRPORT ST / LOS BANOS AV |
| 25 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 21 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | CORAL REEF AV EL_GRANADA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Moss Beach: 6 past producers, 2 producers, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miguel | Granite | Producer | ||
| Deniston Peak | Gold | Past Producer | Gold | |
| Dennison Peak | Gold | Prospect | ||
| Duncan | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Duncan | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| El Granada | Stone | Producer | ||
| El Granada | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Miguel | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Vasquez | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Moss Beach in 1 storm report in 2008: 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2008 | Flash Flood | Moss Beach | $100,000 | Neighborhoods in Moss Landing and Montara were flooded and some cars submerged after several hours of drenching heavy rains. Rising flood waters along Pescadero Creek Road foreced about 18 residents out of their homes. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seal Cove | 0.6 miles | 15 | |
| Montara | 1.0 miles | 15 | |
| Princeton | 2.1 miles | 43 | |
| El Granada | 2.9 miles | 43 | |
| Miramar | 3.8 miles | 38 | |
| Pedro Valley | 4.6 miles | 43 | |
| San Pedro Terrace | 4.6 miles | 15 | |
| Shelter Cove | 4.8 miles | 15 |
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 Moss Beach | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3295933 | 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 1659183. 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.










