Poway, California
37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the San Diego census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92064. It stands on Rattlesnake Creek. The Survey maps it on the Poway quadrangle. 48,841 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 515 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1903 to 1996The same ground, surveyed 93 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1903 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresPoway grew from 47,811 to 48,841 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 | 47,811 | |
| 2020 | 48,841 | +1,030 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 37 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.
- 1903 USGS La Jolla quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1930 USGS La Jolla quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Poway Valley quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1952 USGS Poway Valley quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1967 USGS Poway quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1979 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1996 USGS Poway quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
118 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 118 fires within 5 miles of Poway between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,087 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 14 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 | 61 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 21 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 14 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 acres | San Diego Fire-Rescue Department | SUNDEVIL |
| 30 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 27 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | SCRIPPS |
| 26 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 24 September 2010 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 22 September 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 21 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 20 September 2005 | Natural | 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 14 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Poway: 12 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Arsenic. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Mountain Group | Arsenic, Gold | Past Producer | ||
| C. B. Grove Pit No. 2 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| C.B.Grove Pit #2 | Granite | Producer | ||
| Dg Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Pit | Granite | Producer | ||
| Poway Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Raymond Mcfilvray Corp. Quarry | Granite | Past Producer | ||
| Beeler Canyon Sand and Gravel Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Beeler Canyon Sand and Gravel Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
12 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Poway in 12 storm reports between 2000 and 2022: 4 wildfire, 3 flash flood, 2 lightning, 1 tornado. The reports record 3 injuries. 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 2005 | Flash Flood | Poway | 2 hurt, $200,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Wildfire | Poway | 1 hurt | no account filed |
| February 2001 | Flash Flood | Poway | $150,000 | no account filed |
| November 2000 | Tornado (F1) | Poway | $73,000 | no account filed |
| January 2005 | Flash Flood | Poway | $50,000 | no account filed |
| January 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Poway | $20,000 | An NWS employee reported 15 trees snapped or uprooted near Poway Road and Sabre Springs Road, with some being as large as 18 inches in diameter. Broadcast media reported strong winds in Poway toppled a tree, which fell onto a car. |
| December 2012 | Debris Flow | Poway | $15,000 | An 8-ton boulder, measuring approximately 5 feet by 6 feet, was dislodged by rain-soaked ground and rolled down a hillside, through the garage of a house iin the 13000 block of Vian Road in Poway. The boulder ruptured a water line and a propane line. |
| July 2015 | Lightning | Poway | $500 | CHP reported traffic signals lights knocked out by a lightning strike. |
| June 2022 | Lightning | Poway | - | Public report of tree on fire from a lightning strike near Poway. |
| August 2003 | Wildfire | Poway | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Wildfire | Poway | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Wildfire | Poway | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poway Grove (historical) | 2.2 miles | 37 | |
| Poway Grove Park | 2.2 miles | 37 | |
| Sabre Springs | 3.2 miles | 37 | |
| Green Valley | 3.6 miles | 43 | |
| Rancho Bernardo | 4.1 miles | 43 | |
| Rancho Penasquitos | 4.2 miles | 37 | |
| Rock Haven (historical) | 4.3 miles | 37 | |
| Scripps Ranch | 5.4 miles | 37 |
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 Poway | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q540727 | 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 1661258. 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.











