Santa Monica, California
50 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1894 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Santa Monica census division. It lies in ZIP code area 90401. It lies near Rustic Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Beverly Hills quadrangle. 93,076 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 105 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1894 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1894 against another survey:
On record in Santa Monica
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 10 records
Santa Monica Looff HippodromeNational Historic Landmark · listed 1987
Bay Street Beach Historic Districtlisted 2019
Charmont Apartmentslisted 1996
Club Casa Del Marlisted 2000
Horatio West Courtlisted 1977
Parkhurst Buildinglisted 1978
Sovereign Hotellisted 1997
Henry Weaver Houselisted 1989- Isaac Milbank Houselisted 2023
- Santa Monica Civic Auditoriumlisted 2024
Population over time
15 figuresSanta Monica grew from 417 to 93,076 between 1880 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 417 | |
| 1890 | 1,580 | +1,163 (+279%) |
| 1900 | 3,057 | +1,477 (+93%) |
| 1910 | 7,847 | +4,790 (+157%) |
| 1920 | 15,252 | +7,405 (+94%) |
| 1930 | 37,146 | +21,894 (+144%) |
| 1940 | 53,500 | +16,354 (+44%) |
| 1950 | 71,595 | +18,095 (+34%) |
| 1960 | 83,249 | +11,654 (+16%) |
| 1970 | 88,289 | +5,040 (+6%) |
| 1980 | 88,314 | +25 (+0%) |
| 1990 | 86,905 | -1,409 (-2%) |
| 2000 | 84,084 | -2,821 (-3%) |
| 2010 | 89,736 | +5,652 (+7%) |
| 2020 | 93,076 | +3,340 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
20 surveys from 50 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.
- 1894 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:62500
- 1896 USGS Santa Monica quadrangle1:62500
- 1898 USGS Santa Monica quadrangle1:62500
- 1900 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1902 USGS Santa Monica quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1920 USGS Santa Monica quadrangle1:62500
- 1921 USGS Santa Monica quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1925 USGS Sawtelle quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1934 USGS Sawtelle quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1949 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Beverly Hills quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1966 USGS Beverly Hills quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1966 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:100000
- 1995 USGS Beverly Hills quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
32 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Santa Monica between 2005 and 2020, burning about 203 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was 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 | 18 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area | CALVARY |
| 18 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 16 September 2019 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Los Angeles County Fire Department | not named |
| 15 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7.0 acres | Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area | RUSTIC |
| 11 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 July 2009 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 80 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 29 July 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area | ENTRADA |
| 28 July 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area | DEPAUW |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Santa Monica: 6 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Beach Mining & Dredging Co | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Acme Brick Co. Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Gladding-Mcbean-Santa Monica Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Santa Monica Brick Co. | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Simons Brick Co.-Santa Monica Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Western Brick Co. | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Santa Monica in 3 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 1 funnel cloud, 1 flood, 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | Flood | Santa Monica | - | Heavy rain produced significant flooding on Interstate 10 at the intersection with 4th Street. |
| February 2026 | Flash Flood | Santa Monica | - | Heavy rainfall produced flash flooding from the McClure Tunnel to eastbound Interstate 10. Several vehicles were stuck in the flood waters. |
| March 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Santa Monica | - | A spotter in the Santa Monica area reported two funnel clouds. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Park | 1.3 miles | 50 | |
| Sawtelle | 1.7 miles | 50 | |
| Westgate | 2.3 miles | 50 | |
| Brentwood | 2.4 miles | 50 | |
| Brentwood Park | 2.5 miles | 50 | |
| Venice | 2.6 miles | 44 | |
| Riviera | 2.7 miles | 38 | |
| Pacific Palisades | 2.7 miles | 38 |
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 Santa Monica | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q47164 | 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 1652792. 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.



















