Oceanside, California
46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Oceanside-Escondido census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92054. It stands on San Luis Rey River. The Survey maps it on the Oceanside quadrangle. 174,068 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 66 feet above sea level.
Research this city
Then and now
1893 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1893 against another survey:
On record in Oceanside
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 5 records
San Luis Rey Mission ChurchNational Historic Landmark · listed 1970
Americanization Schoollisted 1994
Charles Libby Houselisted 1978
Oceanside City Hall and Fire Stationlisted 1989
Rosicrucian Fellowship Templelisted 1995
Population over time
2 figuresOceanside grew from 167,086 to 174,068 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 | 167,086 | |
| 2020 | 174,068 | +6,982 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
17 surveys from 46 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.
- 1893 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1898 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1901 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:62500, 8 printings
- 1901 USGS San Luis Rey quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
63 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 63 fires within 5 miles of Oceanside between 1997 and 2020, burning about 34 acres in total. None started naturally. 9 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 | 41 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 4 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | GUNSHOT INJURIES |
| 27 September 2009 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 26 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 26 September 2016 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 24 September 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 20 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 18 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | GUNSHOT INJURIES |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 13 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Oceanside: 11 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Silica, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlsbad Rock and Sand Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Marrow Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Crystal Silica Company | Silica | Producer | ||
| Crystal Silica Company | Silica | Past Producer | ||
| Carlsbad Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Marron Bros. Inc. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Marron Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| South Coast Asphalt Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Carlsbad Rock and Sand Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| H W Rohl Deposit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
28 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oceanside in 28 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 5 funnel cloud, 5 flood, 4 thunderstorm wind, 4 heavy rain. The reports record 2 deaths and 8 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2003 | Heavy Rain | Oceanside | 1 killed, 3 hurt, $250,000 | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Rip Current | Oceanside | 1 killed | no account filed |
| September 2000 | Lightning | Oceanside | 3 hurt | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Rip Current | Oceanside | 2 hurt | no account filed |
| January 2005 | Heavy Rain | Oceanside | $25,000,000 | no account filed |
| January 2005 | Flash Flood | Oceanside | $1,500,000 | no account filed |
| December 2002 | Storm Surge/Tide | Oceanside | $500,000 | no account filed |
| February 2004 | Flash Flood | Oceanside | $50,000 | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oceanside | $50,000 | no account filed |
| October 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Oceanside | $20,000 | no account filed |
| March 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oceanside | $10,000 | In Oceanside, lots of small branches and pots were knocked over and a 12 foot shed was tossed approximately 100 feet, based on where it was located originally and the scrape marks where it landed on the street. At least two vehicles were damaged, one with a side mirror damaged by the shed and another had a large tree limb approximately 4 to 6 inches in diameter that broke the window. At least six screens were knocked off on the windows of the homes. And very unique damage done by pinecones from large trees just to the west which left large scrape marks on the side of stucco. Based on the damage, winds are estimated to be 45 to 50 mph in the localized three or four block area.|Downed trees were blocking the roadway on Via de Santa Fe and large palm tree branches were in the number 4 lane of southbound Interstate 5 at Harbor Drive according to California Highway Patrol. |
| January 2005 | Flash Flood | Oceanside | $10,000 | Rock and mudslides were reported along highway 76. |
| October 2000 | Flood | Oceanside | $10,000 | no account filed |
| March 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oceanside | $100 | The mesonet station on the Oceanside Pier registered a gust of 41 mph twice between 1400-1600 PST on the 11th. |
| January 2025 | Heavy Rain | South Oceanside | - | Heavy rainfall band of up to 0.4 inches in 1 hour at 2 am January 27. |
| January 2024 | Flood | Oceanside | - | CalTrans report of roadway flooding at I-5 S and SR76. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Oceanside | - | CalTrans report of flooding in the right lane on I-5 South near Oceanside. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Oceanside | - | Public report of flooding on SR76 at I-5. Water was reported to be up to 2.5 feet deep. |
| January 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oceanside | - | The Oceanside Jetty reported a 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust. |
| March 2014 | Flood | Oceanside | - | CHP reported one lane of Interstate 5 had a couple feet of water on the road near the Oceanside Harbor bridge. |
| September 2007 | Funnel Cloud | South Oceanside | - | no account filed |
| September 2007 | Funnel Cloud | South Oceanside | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Funnel Cloud | Oceanside | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Wildfire | Oceanside | - | no account filed |
| January 2001 | Heavy Rain | Oceanside | - | no account filed |
| February 2001 | Funnel Cloud | Oceanside | - | no account filed |
| April 1999 | Waterspout | Oceanside | - | no account filed |
| December 1999 | Funnel Cloud | Oceanside | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Escondido Junction | 1.1 miles | 48 | |
| South Oceanside | 1.8 miles | 48 | |
| Fallbrook Junction | 2.1 miles | 46 | |
| Ysidora | 2.5 miles | 46 | |
| Oceana | 2.8 miles | 48 | |
| Carlsbad | 3.0 miles | 48 | |
| Talich | 3.3 miles | 48 | |
| San Luis Rey | 3.9 miles | 48 |
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 Oceanside | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q488924 | 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 1652761. 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.
















