Rancho Palos Verdes, California
39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Palos Verdes census division. It lies in ZIP code area 90275. It lies near Altamira Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Redondo Beach OE S quadrangle. 42,287 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 220 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1896 to 1996The same ground, surveyed 100 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 Rancho Palos Verdes
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 3 records
- Wayfarers ChapelNational Historic Landmark
Point Vicente Lightlisted 1980- Villa Francescalisted 1986
Population over time
3 figuresRancho Palos Verdes grew from 36,577 to 42,287 between 1980 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 36,577 | |
| 2010 | 41,643 | |
| 2020 | 42,287 | +644 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
16 surveys from 39 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 San Pedro quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1925 USGS San Pedro Hills quadrangle1:24000
- 1928 USGS San Pedro Hills quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1942 USGS San Pedro Hill quadrangle1:24000
- 1943 USGS San Pedro quadrangle1:125000
- 1944 USGS San Pedro quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1951 USGS Redondo Beach quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Redondo Beach quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1981 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1996 USGS Redondo Beach quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
100 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 100 fires within 5 miles of Rancho Palos Verdes between 2005 and 2020, burning about 501 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 | 57 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 20 |
| Smoking | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
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 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2011 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Los Angeles County Fire Department | not named |
| 6 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Los Angeles County Fire Department | not named |
| 6 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Los Angeles County Fire Department | not named |
| 6 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 29 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 28 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 17 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 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 11 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Rancho Palos Verdes: 9 past producers, 2 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Diatomite, Limestone, General, Dolomite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hilltop Quarry | Limestone, General, Dolomite | Past Producer | ||
| Palos Verdes Stone Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Diatomaceous Earth Deposit | Diatomite | Occurrence | ||
| Diatomaceous Earth Quarry | Diatomite | Past Producer | ||
| Dicalite | Diatomite | Occurrence | ||
| Chandlers Palos Verdes S&G Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Edward Sidebotham and Sons, Inc. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Graham Bros.-Lomita Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Livingston Rock and Gravel Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Richard Ball | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rancho Palos Verdes in 1 storm report in 2000: 1 funnel cloud. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2000 | Funnel Cloud | Rancho Palos Verdes | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portuguese Bend | 1.0 miles | 37 | |
| Palos Verdes Peninsula | 1.6 miles | 43 | |
| Rolling Hills | 2.0 miles | 41 | |
| San Pedro Hill | 2.7 miles | 37 | |
| Miraleste | 3.3 miles | 41 | |
| Rolling Hills Estates | 3.4 miles | 41 | |
| Palos Verdes Estates | 3.9 miles | 43 | |
| Harbor Hills | 4.6 miles | 41 |
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 Rancho Palos Verdes | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q180226 | 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 255967. 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.















