San Rafael, California
41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the San Rafael census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94901. It lies near Sun Valley. The Survey maps it on the San Rafael quadrangle. 61,271 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 43 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1897 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in San Rafael
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 9 records
Marin County Civic CenterNational Historic Landmark · listed 1991
Boyd Houselisted 1974
Bradford Houselisted 1980
China Camplisted 1979
Dixie Schoolhouselisted 1972
Robert Dollar Houselisted 1991
McNear, Erskine, B., Houselisted 1982
San Rafael Improvement Clublisted 1984- Robert Dollar Estatelisted 1972
Population over time
2 figuresSan Rafael grew from 57,713 to 61,271 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 57,713 | |
| 2020 | 61,271 | +3,558 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
17 surveys from 41 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.
- 1897 USGS Tamalpais quadrangle1:62500, 12 printings
- 1941 USGS Tamalpais quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS Mt. Tamalpais quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS San Rafael quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS San Rafael quadrangle1:24000
- 1995 USGS San Rafael quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
141 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 141 fires within 5 miles of San Rafael between 2005 and 2020, burning about 153 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 9 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 | 88 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 27 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Smoking | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 3 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Marin County Fire Department | not named |
| 29 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Marin County Fire Department | not named |
| 26 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 24 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Marin County Fire Department | not named |
| 23 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 21 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Marin County Fire Department | not named |
| 21 September 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 21 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of San Rafael: 7 occurrences, 6 producers, 4 past producers, 4 unknowns. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copperopolis Mine | Asbestos | Producer | Chrysotile | |
| Greenbrae | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Highway 20 Site | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Hotaling | Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| Mount Tamalpais Cemetery Quarry | Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Escalle Quarry | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Forbes Quarry | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Hotaling | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| L P Mcnear Brick Co | Clay | Producer | ||
| L P Mcnear Brick Company | Clay | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
5 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Rafael in 5 storm reports between 1996 and 2018: 2 flood, 2 hail, 1 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2017 | Flood | San Rafael | - | Sea water breached San Rafael Marina and flooded parking lot. |
| November 2017 | Hail | San Rafael | - | Storm spotter reported small hail at residence. |
| March 2018 | Hail | San Rafael | - | no account filed |
| December 2002 | Flood | San Rafael | - | no account filed |
| February 1996 | Heavy Rain | San Rafael | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cerro | 1.2 miles | 41 | |
| Los Ranchitos | 1.5 miles | 41 | |
| Ross | 1.5 miles | 41 | |
| San Anselmo | 1.6 miles | 41 | |
| Santa Venetia | 1.8 miles | 41 | |
| Greenbrae | 1.8 miles | 41 | |
| Forbes (historical) | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| Kentfield | 2.0 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 San Rafael | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q631915 | 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 1659589. 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.
















