Port Costa, California
36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the West Contra Costa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94569. It lies near Big Bull Valley. The Survey maps it on the Benicia quadrangle. 190 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 16 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1896 to 1983The same ground, surveyed 87 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1896 against another survey:
On record in Port Costa
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
Port Costa Schoollisted 1988
Population over time
2 figuresPort Costa grew from 190 to 190 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 | 190 | |
| 2020 | 190 | 0 (0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
16 surveys from 36 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.
- 1896 USGS Carquinez Strait quadrangle1:62500
- 1898 USGS Karquines quadrangle1:62500
- 1901 USGS Carquinez quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1901 USGS Karquines quadrangle1:62500
- 1902 USGS Napa quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1940 USGS Carquinez Strait quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Carquinez quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Benicia quadrangle1:24000
- 1952 USGS Benicia quadrangle1:24000
- 1958 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Benicia quadrangle1:24000, 8 printings
- 1962 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Napa quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
497 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 497 fires within 5 miles of Port Costa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,027 acres in total. None started naturally. 65 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 | 294 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 65 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 57 |
| Smoking | 31 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 26 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| 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 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | FOUR |
| 8 September 2005 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
| 7 September 2011 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
| 7 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
| 7 September 2010 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Santa Clara Unit | PG&E ALHAMBRA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 18 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Port Costa: 8 unknowns, 5 occurrences, 3 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Mercury, Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Location | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Main Mine & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Martinez | Stone, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Mcnears | Stone, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Port Costa Shale Quarrys | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Borges Prospect | Mercury | Occurrence | Cinnabar | |
| Borges Prospect | Mercury | Unknown | ||
| Brownlie Prospect | Mercury | Unknown | ||
| Hastings | Mercury | Unknown |
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.
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 Port Costa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2485007 | 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 230948. 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.















