BlockBefore

Ontario, California

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Ontario census division. It lies in ZIP code area 91762. The Survey maps it on the Ontario quadrangle. 175,265 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,004 feet above sea level.

Ontario within San Bernardino County

Then and now

1897 to 1982

The same ground, surveyed 85 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Ontario, surveyed 1982
Topographic sheet of Ontario, surveyed 1897

Compare 1897 against another survey:

On record in Ontario

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

Population over time

3 figures

Ontario grew from 683 to 175,265 between 1890 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
1890683
2010163,924
2020175,265+11,341 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

18 surveys from 43 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

267 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 267 fires within 5 miles of Ontario between 1992 and 2020, burning about 270 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 33 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/undetermined156
Arson/incendiarism33
Equipment and vehicle use23
Misuse of fire by a minor22
Smoking18
Debris and open burning11
Natural3
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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 acreSan Bernardino Unitnot named
7 September 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
5 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
5 September 2005Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
4 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Bernardino Unitnot named
4 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Bernardino Unitnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Bernardino County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Ontario: 8 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Gold, Silver. 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
ElmiraGoldPast Producer
Upland South PitSand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, SilverPast Producer
Campus PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Claremont PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Upland PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Upland PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Upland PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Upland Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in San Bernardino County

Storms near this place

7 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ontario in 7 storm reports between 2004 and 2025: 2 flash flood, 2 flood, 2 heavy rain, 1 lightning. The reports record 3 deaths and 1 injury. 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
November 2022Flash FloodOntario3 killedOntario Fire department reported 6 person in the swiftwater channel in John Galvin park where the channel begins near I-10. Rainfall rates of 0.50 to 0.75 inches per hour had occurred from 7 am to 9 am in Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. 3 persons were rescued. 3 more person were later found drowned in a retaining pond which was filled 15 to 20 feet high with storm runoff water. The bodies were not found until several days later due the water being too deep and low visibility. Multiple agencies were involved in the week long recovery efforts. The channel runs south past Ontario airport to where it reached the storage collection ponds on East Philadelphia Street. Search and rescue in Cucamonga Channel reported by CalOES and Ontario Fire Department. As many as 10 people experiencing homelessness were swept away as a surge of water occurred following 2 hours of heavy rain. Five people were immediately rescued, one person immediately reported deceased, with two additional bodies recovered (one of November 14, the other on November 16).
January 2005LightningOntario1 hurt, $15,000no account filed
February 2025Heavy RainOntario-Trained spotter reported 2.70 inches of cumulative rainfall since morning of 2/12/25.
November 2022FloodOntario-Flooding was reported across the Inland Empire on November as widespread rain fell. The Department of Highways reported flooding at SR-60 West and the Phillips Ranch Road offramp in the morning, with an additional report of two vehicles stuck in flood waters after attempting to drive through a closed off ramp onto Euclid.
December 2021Heavy RainOntario-Mesonet station GW0529 in Ontario reports 3.59 inches of rain in the past 24 hours.
May 2016FloodOntario-CHP reported flooding with debris in the roadway at the 4th St. on ramp to Interstate 10.
November 2004Flash FloodOntario-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Bernardino 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
Sunsweet1.8 miles43
Narod1.8 miles43
Racimo2.1 miles41
North Ontario2.1 miles43
Montclair2.3 miles43
Upland2.4 miles43
Ballou2.5 miles41
Los Olivos3.2 miles46

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 OntarioAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q488134The 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 1652764. 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.