Philo, California
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Mendocino census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95466. It stands on Indian Creek. The Survey maps it on the Philo quadrangle. 319 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 331 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1943 to 1991The same ground, surveyed 48 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1943 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresPhilo fell from 349 to 319 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 | 349 | |
| 2020 | 319 | -30 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 12 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.
- 1943 USGS Boonville quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Boonville quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1991 USGS Philo quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
136 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 136 fires within 5 miles of Philo between 1992 and 2018, burning about 1,688 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 11 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 | 39 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 30 |
| Debris and open burning | 26 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 11 |
| Natural | 10 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | COLD SPRINGS FIRE LOOKO 3 |
| 9 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | HENDY |
| 7 September 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.5 acres | Mendocino Unit | PAC BELL |
| 6 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | MAPLE |
| 6 September 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | NASH |
| 30 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | BLATTNER RD PHILO |
| 3 September 2003 | Natural | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | CHURCH OF CHRIST |
| 29 September 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Mendocino Unit | SIGNAL #2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Philo: 2 occurrences, 2 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper, Mercury, Gold, Platinum, Iridium, Zirconium, Mercury, Zirconium, Gold, Iridium, Platinum. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson Valley | Mercury, Zirconium, Gold, Iridium, Platinum | Unknown | ||
| Anderson Valley Placer | Mercury, Gold, Platinum, Iridium, Zirconium | Occurrence | Stream Placer | |
| Whipple | Copper | Occurrence | Copper | |
| Whipple Prospect | Copper | Unknown |
Storms near this place
2 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Philo in 2 storm reports between 2018 and 2025: 2 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2025 | Heavy Rain | Philo | $1,000 | Redwood tree fell across Philo Greenwood road with 3-5 inches of rainfall recorded at local gauges within 24 hours, 3 miles southwest of Philo, CA. Lat. 39.04N, Long. -123.47W. |
| April 2018 | Heavy Rain | Philo | - | Estimated 2.5 inches of rain. Report of water over roadway with numerous vehicles hydroplaning. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hendy Grove | 1.2 miles | 12 | |
| Philbrick Mill | 2.9 miles | 12 | |
| Reilly Heights | 4.8 miles | 15 | |
| Boonville | 5.7 miles | 12 | |
| Old Bailey Place | 7.3 miles | 12 | |
| Navarro | 7.9 miles | 15 | |
| Little Penny | 9.9 miles | 15 | |
| Cape Horn | 11.2 miles | 17 |
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 Philo | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3476094 | 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 1659380. 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.





