BlockBefore

Palermo, California

25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Palermo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95968. The Survey maps it on the Palermo quadrangle. 5,555 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 194 feet above sea level.

Palermo within Butte County

Then and now

1888 to 1993

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Palermo, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of Palermo, surveyed 1888

Population over time

2 figures

Palermo grew from 5,382 to 5,555 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
20105,382
20205,555+173 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 25 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

1,076 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,076 fires within 5 miles of Palermo between 1992 and 2020, burning about 11,881 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 150 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/undetermined415
Equipment and vehicle use271
Arson/incendiarism150
Debris and open burning130
Misuse of fire by a minor64
Smoking20
Power generation/transmission/distribution14
Natural7
Recreation and ceremony5

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 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionR61D
9 September 2014Arson/incendiarismunder an acreButte UnitBANGOR
9 September 2011Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresButte UnitPALERMO
9 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresButte UnitWYNDOTTE
8 September 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionGRUBBS
8 September 2013Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreButte UnitHONCUT
8 September 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreButte UnitVILLA
8 September 2013Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreButte UnitWYANDOTTE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Butte County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 37 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 37 workings within 5 miles of Palermo: 13 occurrences, 10 past producers, 8 unknowns, 6 producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver, Clay. 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
Feather River DistrictGold, Iridium, Platinum, OsmiumPast Producer1849, 1895
Hammett Talkings RockStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Kaiser, Henry J. Co. Betchel-Kaiser Rock CoSand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrenceSedimentary
OrovilleSilver, GoldPast Producer
Oroville DistrictGold, PlatinumPast Producer1849
LundClayProducerSedimentary
LundClayPast Producer
LemrohGold, SilverPast Producer
OrovilleGold, SilverUnknown
StenersonGold, SilverPast Producer

Every working recorded in Butte County

Storms near this place

6 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Palermo in 6 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 4 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash 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
December 2014FloodPalermo$250,000There were 25 homes with minor flooding in Palermo.
December 2025FloodPalermo-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding at Cox Lane and Lone Tree Road.
January 2019FloodPalermo-A member of the public observed flooded roads in Palermo, CA. Video footage showed water flowing over the road with water making it up to the businesses on either side.
February 2019FloodPalermo-The media reported that late in the evening on February 13, 2018 two people had been rescued from the roof of a car at Cox Lane and Lone Tree Road near Palermo. This information came from the public information officer for Cal Fire-Butte County.
January 1997Flash FloodPalermo-no account filed
March 1996Thunderstorm WindPalermo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butte 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
Vista Robles1.3 miles25
Lava Beds (historical)3.2 miles25
Oak Grove3.6 miles25
Wyandotte4.0 miles25
South Oroville4.3 miles25
Yuman (historical)5.4 miles29
Oroville5.5 miles29
Thermalito5.8 miles29

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 PalermoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2565536The 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 277571. 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.