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Pajaro, California

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Pajaro census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95076. The Survey maps it on the Watsonville East quadrangle. 2,882 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 26 feet above sea level.

Pajaro within Monterey County

Then and now

1915 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 80 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Pajaro, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Pajaro, surveyed 1915

Compare 1915 against another survey:

On record in Pajaro

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

Population over time

2 figures

Pajaro fell from 3,070 to 2,882 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.

YearPeople Change
20103,070
20202,882-188 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 27 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

448 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 448 fires within 5 miles of Pajaro between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,166 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 44 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/undetermined205
Equipment and vehicle use96
Debris and open burning52
Arson/incendiarism44
Misuse of fire by a minor22
Power generation/transmission/distribution9
Recreation and ceremony8
Smoking8
Natural4

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 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionFREEDOM BL PAJARO_VALLEY
9 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitVALLEY
9 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitSAN ANDREAS
9 September 1999Naturalunder an acreEllicott Slough National Wildlife RefugeCARSON
9 September 1992Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Benito-Monterey UnitP.G.& E. #17
8 September 2013Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitTHURWACHTER
8 September 2003Debris and open burningunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitPAULSEN
8 September 1999Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Benito-Monterey UnitPG&E 31

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Monterey County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Pajaro: 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Titanium, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Borrow PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Triumph Steel CoTitaniumOccurrence

Every working recorded in Monterey County

Storms near this place

2 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pajaro in 2 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 1 flash flood, 1 flood. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 1998Flash FloodPajaro$300,000no account filed
March 2023FloodPajaro$10A levee on the Pajaro River east of the community of Pajaro was overtopped overnight, and subsequently failed, flooding the community of Pajaro and surrounding farmland. The area was evacuated, with residents only able to return after two weeks.

Every storm recorded in Monterey 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
Watsonville Junction0.6 miles27
Las Lomas2.8 miles25
Vega (historical)3.1 miles27
Elkhorn5.5 miles25
Dunbarton (historical)6.2 miles25
Moss Landing7.2 miles26
Moss7.5 miles26
Oak Hills8.9 miles25

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 PajaroAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2279386The 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 1659773. 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.