Onyx, California
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the Lake Isabella census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93255. It lies near Smith Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Onyx quadrangle. 457 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,795 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1906 to 1978The same ground, surveyed 72 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresOnyx fell from 475 to 457 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 | 475 | |
| 2020 | 457 | -18 (-4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 28 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.
- 1906 USGS Kernville quadrangle1:125000
- 1908 USGS Kernville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1943 USGS Onyx quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1948 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Onyx quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1978 USGS Isabella Lake quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
75 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 75 fires within 5 miles of Onyx between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,323 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 3 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 | 30 |
| Natural | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | BART |
| 3 September 2003 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0377 |
| 3 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | ONYX |
| 17 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | HIGHWAY |
| 13 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | CAP |
| 13 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | BLANKET |
| 13 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Central California District | EASY |
| 8 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | KELSO 2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Onyx: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Tungsten. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stardust | Tungsten | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
11 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Onyx in 11 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 5 heavy rain, 3 flash flood, 1 wildfire, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1997 | Wildfire | Onyx | $3,000,000 | Named the "Jacks Fire"; Southwest of Walker Pass in the Southern Sierra Nevada in Sequoia National Forest. It was a lightning caused fire from thunderstorms developing from monsoonal moisture. It burned a total of 5693 acres. No injuries or structures were reported lost. |
| September 1997 | Flash Flood | Onyx | $5,000 | Thunderstorm passage through the East Lake Isabella area of Kern County brought enough rainfall to generage water flow over State Highway 178 at Onyx from Scodie Creek. Hail was also reported with this thunderstorm up to 1/2 inch in diameter. |
| July 2024 | Heavy Rain | Onyx | - | The Walker Pass RAWS measured 0.52 inches of rainfall between 1900 and 2000 PDT. |
| August 2023 | Flash Flood | Onyx | - | Kern County officials reported a road closure of South Kelso Valley Rd. and Birch Springs Pass due to heavy flooding. |
| March 2019 | Debris Flow | Onyx | - | California Highway Patrol reported a rock slide covering the traffic lanes on State Route 178 at Walker Pass. |
| January 2015 | Heavy Rain | Onyx | - | Heavy rain contributed to rocks sliding across the roadway. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Onyx | - | Heavy rainfall occurred across the mountains in Kern County which lead to a mud/debris flow across S. Kelso Valley road and Zimmerman St. in rural Kern County. This debris flow removed a 20 foot section of the roadway, though cost of the damage was not reported. |
| October 2015 | Heavy Rain | Onyx | - | Reports were received about some mud and rock on Highway 178, 2 miles east of Canebreak Fire Station. The mud and rock was due to heavy rainfall occurring. |
| October 2015 | Heavy Rain | Onyx | - | At 1612 PST, law enforcement notified the office that a large boulder was blocking the roadway and that there was localized flooding of water in Onyx. This was due to heavy rainfall earlier, though no evidence of what caused the boulder to fall into the roadway. The area is a canyon so the heavy rainfall may have caused it to fall. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Onyx | - | RAWS station at Bird Springs Pass reported thunderstorm outflow wind gusts of 60 MPH at 12:27 UTC, with sustain winds of 22 MPH. |
| July 2011 | Heavy Rain | Onyx | - | In only 33 minutes, a heavy thunderstorm dropped 0.56 inches of rain. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weldon | 4.1 miles | 28 | |
| Canebrake | 5.1 miles | 28 | |
| Bella Vista | 6.0 miles | 28 | |
| Canebrake (historical) | 8.0 miles | 29 | |
| South Lake | 8.6 miles | 28 | |
| Mountain Mesa | 10.4 miles | 28 | |
| Squirrel Mountain Valley | 11.0 miles | 28 | |
| Kernville (historical) | 11.6 miles | 28 |
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 Onyx | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3301670 | 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 1661150. 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.










