Pacifica, California
43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the South San Francisco census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94044. It lies near Cattle Hill. The Survey maps it on the Montara Mountain quadrangle. 38,640 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 82 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1892 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1892 against another survey:
On record in Pacifica
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 1 record
Sanchez Adobe Parklisted 1976
Population over time
2 figuresPacifica grew from 37,234 to 38,640 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 | 37,234 | |
| 2020 | 38,640 | +1,406 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
21 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.
- 1892 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1896 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1915 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1939 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1943 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Montara Mountain quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Montara Mountain quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS Montara Mountain quadrangle1:24000
- 1997 USGS Montara Mountain quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
221 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 221 fires within 5 miles of Pacifica between 1992 and 2020, burning about 756 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 29 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 | 132 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 29 |
| Smoking | 23 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | CHESTNUT 2 |
| 7 September 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | A1 |
| 7 September 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 3 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 27 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 27 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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
10 of 18 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Pacifica: 9 producers, 9 past producers. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Calcium, Gypsum-Anhydrite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacifica Quarry and Mill | Stone | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Unnamed Location | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Past Producer | ||
| Brumley-Donaldson Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Calif. Aggregates | Calcium | Past Producer | ||
| Marks Materials Inc. | Calcium | Producer | ||
| Pacific Coast Aggregates, Inc. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Pilarcitos Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Rockaway | Calcium | Producer | ||
| Rockaway | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 2012Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pacifica in 2 storm reports between 2012 and 2020: 1 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2012 | Heavy Rain | Pacifica | 5 hurt, $50,000 | Two accidents shut down Highway 1 for brief periods. One occurred on March 14 which was a head-on crash just south of Devil's Slide. Two sedans were involved with minor injuries to the two drivers. The other occurred on March 16 when two trucks collided at 10:45 am west of the turnoff for Ox Mountain landfill. Three riders suffered minor cuts and bruises. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pacifica | - | Mesonet station on Lake Drive reported. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vallemar | 0.3 miles | 43 | |
| Fairway Park | 0.5 miles | 43 | |
| Rockaway Beach | 0.6 miles | 43 | |
| Linda Mar | 1.3 miles | 43 | |
| Sharp Park | 1.5 miles | 43 | |
| Pedro Valley | 1.5 miles | 43 | |
| San Pedro Terrace | 1.8 miles | 15 | |
| Shelter Cove | 1.8 miles | 15 |
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 Pacifica | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q925925 | 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 277613. 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.




















