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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.

San Rafael within Marin County

Then and now

1897 to 1995

The 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.

Topographic sheet of San Rafael, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of San Rafael, surveyed 1897

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

Population over time

2 figures

San 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.

YearPeople Change
201057,713
202061,271+3,558 (+6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

17 surveys from 41 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

141 since 2005

Regional 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/undetermined88
Equipment and vehicle use27
Arson/incendiarism9
Smoking7
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Natural1
Debris and open burning1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
30 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined26 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
29 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
26 September 2007Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
24 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
23 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
21 September 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
21 September 2008Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Marin County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 21 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Copperopolis MineAsbestosProducerChrysotile
GreenbraeSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Highway 20 SiteSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
HotalingStone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, DimensionUnknown
Mount Tamalpais Cemetery QuarryStone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Escalle QuarryStoneUnknown
Forbes QuarryStoneUnknown
HotalingStoneOccurrence
L P Mcnear Brick CoClayProducer
L P Mcnear Brick CompanyClayPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Marin County

Storms near this place

5 since 1996

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2017FloodSan Rafael-Sea water breached San Rafael Marina and flooded parking lot.
November 2017HailSan Rafael-Storm spotter reported small hail at residence.
March 2018HailSan Rafael-no account filed
December 2002FloodSan Rafael-no account filed
February 1996Heavy RainSan Rafael-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Marin 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
Cerro1.2 miles41
Los Ranchitos1.5 miles41
Ross1.5 miles41
San Anselmo1.6 miles41
Santa Venetia1.8 miles41
Greenbrae1.8 miles41
Forbes (historical)1.9 miles24
Kentfield2.0 miles41

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 RafaelAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q631915The 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.