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.
Then and now
1897 to 1982The 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.


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
Dr. Orville S. Ensign Houselisted 2012
Frankish Buildinglisted 1980
Hofer Ranchlisted 1993
Ontario State Bank Blocklisted 1982- Ontario Baseball Parklisted 2021
Population over time
3 figuresOntario 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1890 | 683 | |
| 2010 | 163,924 | |
| 2020 | 175,265 | +11,341 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
18 surveys from 43 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 Cucamonga quadrangle1:62500
- 1900 USGS Cucamonga quadrangle1:62500
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1903 USGS Cucamonga quadrangle1:62500, 11 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1933 USGS Ontario quadrangle1:31680
- 1942 USGS Ontario and Vicinity quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1944 USGS Cucamonga quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Ontario quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Ontario quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Ontario quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1982 USGS San Bernardino quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
267 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 156 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 33 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 23 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 22 |
| Smoking | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | not named |
| 7 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 4 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Bernardino Unit | not named |
| 4 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 30 September 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Bernardino Unit | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmira | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Upland South Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Campus Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Claremont Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Upland Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Upland Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Upland Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Upland Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 2004Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2022 | Flash Flood | Ontario | 3 killed | Ontario 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 2005 | Lightning | Ontario | 1 hurt, $15,000 | no account filed |
| February 2025 | Heavy Rain | Ontario | - | Trained spotter reported 2.70 inches of cumulative rainfall since morning of 2/12/25. |
| November 2022 | Flood | Ontario | - | 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 2021 | Heavy Rain | Ontario | - | Mesonet station GW0529 in Ontario reports 3.59 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. |
| May 2016 | Flood | Ontario | - | CHP reported flooding with debris in the roadway at the 4th St. on ramp to Interstate 10. |
| November 2004 | Flash Flood | Ontario | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunsweet | 1.8 miles | 43 | |
| Narod | 1.8 miles | 43 | |
| Racimo | 2.1 miles | 41 | |
| North Ontario | 2.1 miles | 43 | |
| Montclair | 2.3 miles | 43 | |
| Upland | 2.4 miles | 43 | |
| Ballou | 2.5 miles | 41 | |
| Los Olivos | 3.2 miles | 46 |
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 Ontario | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q488134 | 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 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.

















