Pismo Beach, California
32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Arroyo Grande census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93449. It lies near Camp Hill. The Survey maps it on the Pismo Beach quadrangle. 8,072 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 56 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1897 to 1998The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1897 against another survey:
On record in Pismo Beach
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
John Price Houselisted 1988
Population over time
2 figuresPismo Beach grew from 7,655 to 8,072 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 | 7,655 | |
| 2020 | 8,072 | +417 (+5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 32 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.
- 1897 USGS Arroyo Grande quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1900 USGS San Luis quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1942 USGS Arroyo Grande quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1952 USGS Arroyo Grande quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Pismo Beach quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1981 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1998 USGS Pismo Beach quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
357 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 357 fires within 5 miles of Pismo Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,114 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 19 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 | 184 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 81 |
| Debris and open burning | 24 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 19 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 |
| Smoking | 15 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 9 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6 |
| Natural | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | OCEANO DUNES STATE PA 125 |
| 5 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | SLU 2313 |
| 4 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | EMS3CDF/ |
| 30 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | FAIR OAKS AVE AG |
| 30 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | ONTARIO RD / SAN LUIS BAY |
| 3 September 2007 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 3 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | TANK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 19 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Pismo Beach: 7 past producers, 6 producers, 6 occurrences. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Diatomite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Uranium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arroyo Grande Creek Deposit | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Occurrence | ||
| Oceano Sand Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Owen Group | Uranium | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Limestone Deposit | Limestone, General | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Pumice Occurrence | Pumice | Occurrence | ||
| Los Penascos Ranch Deposit | Diatomite | Occurrence | ||
| Pismo Heights Co. | Diatomite | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Diatomite Deposit | Diatomite | Occurrence | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pismo Beach in 4 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 2 flood, 1 waterspout, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | Flash Flood | Pismo Beach | - | Significant flash flooding reported near Dolliver and Highway 1 intersection. |
| April 1998 | Waterspout | Pismo Beach | - | A waterspout was reported by the Pismo Beach Fire Department. |
| January 2001 | Flood | Pismo Beach | - | no account filed |
| November 1998 | Flood | Pismo Beach | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grover Beach | 1.8 miles | 30 | |
| Shell Beach | 1.9 miles | 32 | |
| Oceano Beach | 2.6 miles | 30 | |
| Fairoaks | 2.7 miles | 30 | |
| Tiber | 2.7 miles | 34 | |
| Oaks | 3.0 miles | 30 | |
| Arroyo Trailer Park | 3.0 miles | 30 | |
| Arroyo Grande | 3.2 miles | 30 |
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 Pismo Beach | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q570287 | 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 1652776. 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.











