Rainbow, California
30 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Fallbrook census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92028. It lies in Rainbow Valley. The Survey maps it on the Temecula quadrangle. 1,884 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,043 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1901 to 1982The same ground, surveyed 81 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1901 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresRainbow grew from 1,832 to 1,884 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 | 1,832 | |
| 2020 | 1,884 | +52 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 30 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.
- 1901 USGS San Luis Rey quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Temecula quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Temecula quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS Temecula quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Temecula quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
500 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 500 fires within 5 miles of Rainbow between 1992 and 2020, burning about 22,168 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 36 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 | 225 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 138 |
| Debris and open burning | 37 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 36 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 26 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | MISSION |
| 8 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | FREEWAY |
| 8 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL FIRE |
| 5 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | RAINBOW |
| 5 September 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Diego Unit | RAINBOW VALLEY |
| 4 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Desert District | LOCAL |
| 30 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | San Diego Unit | FIRE ALARM - RES |
| 30 September 2007 | Smoking | under an acre | California Desert District | UNNAMED FIRE 2757 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 20 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Rainbow: 8 producers, 5 occurrences, 4 past producers, 3 prospects. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Gemstone, Manganese, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Lead. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hughes Acreage | Lead, Silver, Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Pala District | Niobium (Columbium), Gemstone, Tantalum, Beryllium, Lithium | Producer | PEGMATITE | |
| Parkwest Industrial Center Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Stewart Pegmatite | Niobium (Columbium), Tantalum, Lithium | Producer | Lepidolite, Microlite | |
| Temecula Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Temecula Quarry | Granite | Past Producer | ||
| Tourmaline King Pegmatite | Tantalum, Lithium, Gemstone | Producer | Microlite, Tourmaline | |
| Vanderburg - Katerina Pegmatite | Niobium (Columbium), Tantalum, Lithium, Gemstone | Producer | Beryl, Lepidolite, Spodumene | |
| Pala Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Weir Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rainbow in 10 storm reports between 2005 and 2025: 5 flood, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 2 deaths. 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 2017 | Flash Flood | Rainbow | 2 killed, $10,000 | A swift water rescue team pulled a man from a submerged car in a small creek near Old Highway 395 and 5th St. in Rainbow. A young boy, also in the car, was swept down stream before rescuers arrived. The boys body was recovered on the 26th. |
| February 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Rainbow | $25,000 | no account filed |
| January 2017 | Flash Flood | Rainbow | $10,000 | Widespread flooding occurred near Gilman Springs Rd. and Soboba Rd. in San Jacinto with multiple water rescues conducted. |
| October 2016 | Lightning | Rainbow | $1,500 | Lightning struck a tree which caught on fire. |
| February 2025 | Flood | Rainbow | - | Received a report of a flooded roadway. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Rainbow | - | Heavy rain occurred across northern San Diego County on January 15-16, resulting in flooding near Rainbow. County officials announced the closure of Pala Mission Road near Highway 76, and Pala Temecula Road. Rainfall of 1 to 1.5 inch had been reported leading up to the flooding. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Rainbow | - | Heavy rain resulted in the flooding of Huffstatler Creek flowing over Huffstatler Road at 2nd St and 5th St; roads were closed due to flooding. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Rainbow | - | In the Rainbow area, Huffstatler St was closed from 5th St to 2nd St due to flooding. About 0.50-0.70 inch of rain fell in the 12 hours prior. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Rainbow | - | Flooding occurred early in the morning on March 15 following very heavy rainfall over the previous 24 hours, with precipitation amounts of 2.5-3.5 inches. Huffstalter St between 5th and 2nd St was closed due to flooding, as well as Pala Temecula Road. |
| March 2023 | Debris Flow | Rainbow | - | The Department of Highways reported a rockslide on the southbound lanes of SR-76 early in the morning on March 15. Rainfall of 2.50-3.50 inches occurred with the event. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgecrest Estates | 3.2 miles | 30 | |
| Pala | 4.9 miles | 32 | |
| Pala Mesa | 5.5 miles | 31 | |
| Fallbrook | 6.0 miles | 36 | |
| Winterwarm | 6.2 miles | 31 | |
| De Luz Heights | 7.0 miles | 36 | |
| San Luis Rey Heights | 7.1 miles | 31 | |
| DeLuz | 7.4 miles | 35 |
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 Rainbow | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q595723 | 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 1652780. 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.












