BlockBefore

Redwood City, California

51 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Mateo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94062. It stands on Arroyo Ojo De Agua. The Survey maps it on the Palo Alto quadrangle. 84,292 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.

Redwood City within San Mateo County

Then and now

1897 to 1997

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Redwood City, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Redwood City, surveyed 1897

Compare 1897 against another survey:

On record in Redwood City

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 10 records

Population over time

2 figures

Redwood City grew from 76,815 to 84,292 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.

YearPeople Change
201076,815
202084,292+7,477 (+10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

22 surveys from 51 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

246 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 246 fires within 5 miles of Redwood City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 116 acres in total. None started naturally. 22 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/undetermined144
Equipment and vehicle use34
Arson/incendiarism22
Smoking20
Misuse of fire by a minor10
Recreation and ceremony6
Debris and open burning5
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Other causes1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionNB HWY 280 / EDGEWOOD OF
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
6 September 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitEDGEWOOD
6 September 1996Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitOYSTER POINT
6 September 1993Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitPIPE
5 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
5 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
5 September 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Mateo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 42 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 42 workings within 5 miles of Redwood City: 21 producers, 19 past producers, 2 unknowns. 21 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Mercury, Salt. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Ideal Cement CompanyLimestone, General, ClayProducer
Redwood City OperationHaliteProducer
Granite RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Granite RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Kaiser GypsumGypsum-AnhydriteProducerSedimentary
Kaiser GypsumGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Redwood Material Co.ManganeseProducer
Redwood Material Co.ManganesePast Producer
Redwood City OperationSaltPast Producer
Redwood City PlantSaltProducer

Every working recorded in San Mateo County

Storms near this place

5 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Redwood City in 5 storm reports between 1996 and 2022: 3 heavy rain, 1 hail, 1 lightning. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2022Heavy RainRedwood City-Redwood City with 4.47. ||12/31/2022 was the 3rd wettest in a record that goes back to 1906. The daily rainfall made up 42.8% of December 2022's rainfall.||The wettest day on record at Redwood City was back on 10/13/1962 with 4.88 inches.
August 2020LightningRedwood City-Lightning struck a redwood tree in Redwood City https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/08/16/lightning-from-rare-bay-area-thunderstorm-leaves-damage-in-its-wake/.
January 2019HailRedwood City-Small thunderstorm cell moved just south of Redwood City. Public reported small hail.
February 2015Heavy RainRedwood City-A 72 hour rainfall total of 5.43 inches was measured from Emerald Lake Hills at elevation 472 feet. This was the highest storm total in San Mateo County.
March 1996Heavy Rain (F0)Redwood City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Mateo County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Redwood Junction1.0 miles51
Palomar Park1.5 miles37
Emerald Lake1.9 miles37
San Carlos2.0 miles43
Emerald Lake Hills2.2 miles37
Lloyden Park2.2 miles51
Farm Hills2.2 miles37
North Fair Oaks2.2 miles51

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 Redwood CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q505549The 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 277584. 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.