Santa Cruz, California

The same ground, surveyed 26 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

1948 1974

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 12 of 19 shown

• Looff Carousel and Roller Coaster on the Santa Cruz Beach BoardwalkNational Historic Landmark · listed 1987
• Branciforte Adobelisted 1979
• Carmelita Courtlisted 1986
• Cope Row Houseslisted 1982
• Cowell Lime Works Historic Districtlisted 2007
• Garfield Park Branch Librarylisted 1992
• Glen Canyon Covered Bridgelisted 1984
• Golden Gate Villalisted 1975
• A. J. Hinds Houselisted 1983
• Hotel Metropolelisted 1979
• Neary-Rodriguez Adobelisted 1975
• Octagon Buildinglisted 1971

Every listing in Santa Cruz County

Santa Cruz grew from 59,946 to 62,956 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.

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.

• 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1954 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:24000, 8 printings
• 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
• 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
• 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
• 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 423 fires within 5 miles of Santa Cruz between 1992 and 2020, burning about 161 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 55 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.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Allegro Heights
• Pueblo de Figueroa (historical)
• Rapetti (historical)
• Seabright
• Twin Lakes
• Live Oak

Every fire recorded in Santa Cruz County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 23 workings within 5 miles of Santa Cruz: 13 past producers, 6 occurrences, 3 producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Clay, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Santa Cruz County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Santa Cruz in 17 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 flood, 3 tornado, 3 hail, 2 heavy rain. The reports record 1 death. 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.

Every storm recorded in Santa Cruz County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

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.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1659596. 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.