Paradise, California
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Paradise census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95969. It lies near McKay Ridge. The Survey maps it on the Paradise East quadrangle. 4,764 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,778 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1891 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1891 against another survey:
On record in Paradise
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
Centerville Schoolhouselisted 1972
Population over time
2 figuresParadise fell from 26,218 to 4,764 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 | 26,218 | |
| 2020 | 4,764 | -21,454 (-82%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 24 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.
- 1891 USGS Chico quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Chico quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Chico quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1953 USGS Paradise quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Chico quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1980 USGS Paradise East quadrangle1:24000
- 1994 USGS Paradise East quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
599 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 599 fires within 5 miles of Paradise between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,833 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 75 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 | 239 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 136 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 75 |
| Debris and open burning | 68 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 36 |
| Smoking | 20 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 13 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| 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 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Butte Unit | NEAL |
| 9 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Northern California District | FLUME |
| 7 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Northern California District | PINES |
| 7 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Butte Unit | SKYWAY |
| 6 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Butte Unit | DOGTOWN |
| 6 September 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2007 | Smoking | 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 74 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 74 workings within 5 miles of Paradise: 33 past producers, 19 unknowns, 18 occurrences, 4 producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Chromium, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral Slide Deposit | Iron, Manganese, Chromium | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Rainbow | Gold, Chromium | Occurrence | Chromite, Gold | |
| S and D | Gold, Copper, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Kennedy Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Sake and Sanders Rock Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Sake and Sanders Rock Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Badger | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Bennett | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Delta | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Electric Mining Co. Property | Gold, Silver | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paradise in 6 storm reports between 2001 and 2021: 2 hail, 2 heavy rain, 1 lightning, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2009 | Lightning | Paradise | $10,000 | Lighting struck a dentist office, damaging a swamp cooler on the roof, the office computer, and the phone system. |
| October 2021 | Heavy Rain | Paradise | - | Heavy rain and flooding was reported in Butte County. Paradise reported 10.09 inches of storm total rain and 9.09 inches east of Deadwood. A daily rainfall record was also set at 4.57 inches at Oroville Airport. |
| May 2019 | Flood | Paradise | - | Social media reported local street flooding. |
| December 2016 | Heavy Rain | Paradise | - | A CC-OP observere reported heavy rain, 3.45 24 hour total. |
| February 2001 | Hail | Paradise | - | no account filed |
| February 2001 | Hail | Paradise | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral Slide | 1.8 miles | 24 | |
| Centerville | 2.6 miles | 26 | |
| Irish Town | 3.6 miles | 26 | |
| Helltown | 4.1 miles | 26 | |
| Magalia | 4.3 miles | 24 | |
| Paradise Pines | 5.1 miles | 24 | |
| Deadwood | 5.3 miles | 29 | |
| Concow | 5.4 miles | 29 |
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 Paradise | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q387183 | 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 277573. 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.








