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San Bruno, California

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the South San Francisco census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94066. It stands on Colma Creek. The Survey maps it on the San Francisco South quadrangle. 43,908 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 20 feet above sea level.

San Bruno within San Mateo County

Then and now

1892 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of San Bruno, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of San Bruno, surveyed 1892

Compare 1892 against another survey:

On record in San Bruno

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

San Bruno grew from 41,114 to 43,908 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
201041,114
202043,908+2,794 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

22 surveys from 43 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

326 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 326 fires within 5 miles of San Bruno between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,419 acres in total. None started naturally. 35 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/undetermined183
Smoking37
Arson/incendiarism35
Equipment and vehicle use30
Misuse of fire by a minor22
Debris and open burning8
Power generation/transmission/distribution6
Recreation and ceremony4
Fireworks1

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 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined12 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionBRUNO
7 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined41 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitCHESTNUT 2
7 September 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitA1
7 September 2009Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2007Smokingunder 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 35 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 35 workings within 5 miles of San Bruno: 18 producers, 17 past producers. 18 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Calcium. 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
Marine Magnes Div.MagnesiteProducer
Marine Magnes Div.MagnesitePast Producer
Marine Magnesium Co. Seawater PlantMagnesiteProducer
South San Fran. Land & Imp. Co.Silver, Lead, ZincProducer
South San Fran. Land & Imp. Co.Silver, Lead, ZincPast Producer
South San Francisco Land & Improvement CompanySilver, Lead, ZincPast Producer1919
Brisbane QuarryStoneProducer
Calif. AggregatesCalciumPast Producer
Marks Materials Inc.CalciumProducer
Pacifica Quarry and MillStoneProducer

Every working recorded in San Mateo County

Storms near this place

4 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Bruno in 4 storm reports between 2014 and 2025: 3 flood, 1 flash flood. 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 2014Flash FloodSan Bruno$5,000Significant flash flooding on Interstate 280 was reported by the public. This coincided with a nearby observation of 0.90 of rainfall in 30 minutes at San Bruno Mountain. Traffic was significantly impacted and slowed or stopped during the height of morning rush hour.
February 2025FloodSan Bruno-All lanes of northbound Interstate 280 right before the San Bruno Avenue offramp were flooded.
November 2025FloodSan Bruno-Flooding was reported on southbound US Highway 101 north of Millbrae.
December 2014FloodSan Bruno-Flooding closed right lane of Northbound US-101 before the Interstate 380 exit.

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
Tanforan0.6 miles43
Lomita Park1.0 miles43
South San Francisco1.7 miles43
Baden1.8 miles43
Millbrae Meadows2.0 miles43
Millbrae2.5 miles43
Westborough2.7 miles43
Brisbane3.5 miles43

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 San BrunoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q667738The 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 277616. 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.