San Marcos, California
40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Oceanside-Escondido census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92069. It lies near Twin Oaks Valley. The Survey maps it on the San Marcos quadrangle. 94,833 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 581 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1893 to 1996The 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.


Compare 1893 against another survey:
Population over time
3 figuresSan Marcos grew from 3,896 to 94,833 between 1970 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 3,896 | |
| 2010 | 83,781 | |
| 2020 | 94,833 | +11,052 (+13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
16 surveys from 40 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.
- 1893 USGS Escondido quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1901 USGS Escondido quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1901 USGS San Luis Rey quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Escondido quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 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 San Marcos quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1982 USGS Oceanside quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1996 USGS San Marcos quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
376 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 376 fires within 5 miles of San Marcos between 1992 and 2020, burning about 7,323 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 29 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 | 211 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 84 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 29 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 17 |
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Smoking | 8 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | ROCK |
| 9 September 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | ELISO |
| 8 September 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Diego Unit | WINTERHAVEN |
| 7 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | HARMONY |
| 6 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | CENTER 2 |
| 6 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | TWIN OAKS |
| 5 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.5 acres | San Diego Unit | WILKES |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 36 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 36 workings within 5 miles of San Marcos: 20 past producers, 11 producers, 3 prospects, 1 occurrence. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Copper, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Encinitas | Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Haborlite Corporation | Perlite | Past Producer | ||
| Morris Clay Deposit | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Escondido Sand and Gravel Works | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| San Marcos Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Oro Fino El Diablo Mine | Gold | Producer | ||
| Oro Fino Mine | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Oxide Mine | Gold | Prospect | ||
| Encinitas Mine | Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Deposit | Copper | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
8 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Marcos in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 3 flash flood, 2 flood, 1 strong wind, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2004 | Flash Flood | San Marcos | $1,000 | Heavy rain sent three to four feet of water rushing over Craven Rd. in San Marcos. |
| January 2023 | Flash Flood | San Marcos | - | Harmony Grove Road closed due to flooding, with 1-2 feet of flowing water from the Escondido Creek. Rainfall of 2 to 3 inches had been reported in the prior 24 hours, with 4 to 5.5 inches in the 72 hours leading up to the flooding. |
| January 2023 | Flash Flood | San Marcos | - | Harmony Grove Rd flooded at Wilgren Drive near Elfin Forest with four feet of water flowing in both directions into Elfin Park. Rain of 1.25-1.50 inch was reported that afternoon. |
| February 2023 | Flood | San Marcos | - | Public report of flooding at Country Club Dip south of Harmony Grove Road, resulting in its closure. |
| March 2023 | Heavy Rain | San Marcos | - | A trained spotter near San Marcos reported 24hr rainfall totals of 0.95 inch. |
| December 2019 | Flood | San Marcos | - | Flooding in San Marcos due to heavy rain. |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | San Marcos | - | Pea size hail and with wind gusts estimated between 45 and 60 mph were reported by spotters. |
| August 1998 | Strong Wind | San Marcos | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richland | 1.5 miles | 40 | |
| Lake San Marcos | 2.5 miles | 40 | |
| Twin Oaks | 3.0 miles | 40 | |
| Buena | 3.1 miles | 40 | |
| Harmony Grove | 3.6 miles | 43 | |
| Jesmond Dene | 4.0 miles | 42 | |
| Escondido | 4.5 miles | 43 | |
| Elfin Forest | 4.8 miles | 43 |
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 Marcos | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q506411 | 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 1661388. 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.















