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San Carlos, California

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Mateo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94070. It lies near Brittan Knoll. The Survey maps it on the San Mateo quadrangle. 30,722 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 30 feet above sea level.

San Carlos within San Mateo County

Then and now

1892 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 105 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 Carlos, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of San Carlos, surveyed 1892

Compare 1892 against another survey:

On record in San Carlos

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

Population over time

2 figures

San Carlos grew from 28,406 to 30,722 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
201028,406
202030,722+2,316 (+8%)

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

311 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 311 fires within 5 miles of San Carlos between 1992 and 2020, burning about 146 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 28 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/undetermined173
Equipment and vehicle use52
Arson/incendiarism28
Smoking27
Misuse of fire by a minor13
Recreation and ceremony8
Debris and open burning5
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Other causes1
Natural1

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 San Carlos: 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

3 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Carlos in 3 storm reports between 2010 and 2024: 1 flood, 1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
January 2010FloodSan Carlos$15,000Heavy rain caused Pulgas Creek to overflow its banks and flood some classrooms at Central Middle School in San Carlos. Also, several streets were blocked off in low-lying areas just west of US Highway 101, including Taylor Avenue in San Carlos and parts of Rolison Road in Redwood City. In Atherton, officials closed March Road from Middlefield Road to Fair Oaks Avenue because a creek had begun to flood.
February 2024Thunderstorm WindSan Carlos$10Three inch tree limbs were broken, and power lines were downed.
March 2018HailSan Carlos-Social media photos showing pea-sized hail in San Carlos.

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
Belmont1.2 miles43
Devonshire1.3 miles43
Palomar Park1.8 miles37
Redwood Shores1.8 miles36
Redwood City2.0 miles51
Belle Monte2.1 miles43
Emerald Lake2.8 miles37
Redwood Junction2.9 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 San CarlosAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q383234The 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 277592. 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.