National City, California
32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the San Diego census division. It lies in ZIP code area 91950. It lies near Paradise Valley. The Survey maps it on the National City quadrangle. 56,173 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 66 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1904 to 1996The 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 1904 against another survey:
On record in National City
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 4 records
Brick Rowlisted 1973
Granger Halllisted 1975
St. Matthew's Episcopal Churchlisted 1973
Station and General Office, California Southern Railroadlisted 1996
Population over time
3 figuresNational City grew from 248 to 56,173 between 1880 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 248 | |
| 2010 | 5 | |
| 2020 | 56,173 | +56,168 (+1123360%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 32 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.
- 1904 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1930 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:62500
- 1944 USGS National City quadrangle1:31680
- 1950 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS National City quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1967 USGS National City quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1979 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1996 USGS National City quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
477 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 477 fires within 5 miles of National City between 1994 and 2020, burning about 256 acres in total. None started naturally. 104 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 | 265 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 104 |
| Debris and open burning | 42 |
| Smoking | 30 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 22 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
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 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 9 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 9 September 2005 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 7 September 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of National City: 5 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Salt, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Brick Company | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| San Diego Stone Co. Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| San Diego Stone Co.Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Sweetwater Sand Deposit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Chollas Valley Salt Co. | Salt | Past Producer | ||
| Sweetwater Creek | Salt | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 2019Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names National City in 2 storm reports between 2019 and 2022: 1 flash flood, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2022 | Hail | National City | $10,000 | Hail of pea size (0.25 inch) to 0.5 inch in diameter, with hail covering the road on Coronado. Accidents reported on Highway-75 between Nab Coronado and Leyte Road on the Silver Strand (Beach Highway). One vehicle flipped. |
| November 2019 | Flash Flood | National City | - | Swift water rescue occurred in National City. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelltown | 0.3 miles | 32 | |
| South Crest | 1.1 miles | 32 | |
| Lincoln Acres | 1.6 miles | 32 | |
| Mountain View | 1.6 miles | 32 | |
| Lincoln Park | 1.9 miles | 32 | |
| Valencia Park | 2.0 miles | 32 | |
| Logan Heights | 2.2 miles | 34 | |
| Paradise Hills | 2.2 miles | 32 |
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 National City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q430316 | 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 1661090. 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.











