BlockBefore

Santa Rosa, California

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Santa Rosa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95404. It stands on Matanzas Creek. The Survey maps it on the Santa Rosa quadrangle. 178,127 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 164 feet above sea level.

Santa Rosa within Sonoma County

Then and now

1916 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Santa Rosa, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Santa Rosa, surveyed 1916

Compare 1916 against another survey:

On record in Santa Rosa

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 16 shown

Every listing in Sonoma County

Population over time

2 figures

Santa Rosa grew from 167,815 to 178,127 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
2010167,815
2020178,127+10,312 (+6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 23 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

510 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 510 fires within 5 miles of Santa Rosa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 466 acres in total. None started naturally. 49 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/undetermined257
Equipment and vehicle use81
Smoking78
Arson/incendiarism49
Misuse of fire by a minor25
Debris and open burning12
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Recreation and ceremony3

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
8 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 1992Equipment and vehicle use7.0 acresSonoma-Lake Napa UnitRUSSELL
7 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2000Smokingunder an acreSonoma-Lake Napa UnitNEWMAN
6 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sonoma County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Santa Rosa: 8 past producers, 4 producers, 3 unknowns, 2 prospects. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Perlite. 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
StirlingIronUnknown
Unnamed LocationPerliteProspect
Z and G Quarry and MillStone, DimensionUnknown
Petaluma Hill RoadStone, Crushed/BrokenProducerSedimentary
Zamaroni QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
O ConnorStoneProducer
O ConnorStonePast Producer
Unnamed LocationStoneOccurrence
Zaney GravelsStoneProducer
Zaney GravelsStonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Sonoma County

Storms near this place

13 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Santa Rosa in 13 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 5 hail, 3 tornado, 2 heavy rain, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 1998Tornado (F1)Santa Rosa$1,000,000no account filed
March 2011Tornado (EF1)Santa Rosa$50,000An EF1 tornado completely destroyed a metal building and severely bent a metal gate.
December 2004Tornado (F0)Santa Rosa$3,000Brief F0 tornado touchdown in the NW portion of the city of Santa Rosa, picked up cinder blocks and threw them into the roof of a house, putting holes in the roof. Law enforcement officer reported swirl of debris passed over his car.
November 2024Heavy RainSanta Rosa$10A total of 12.47 of rain was observed at the Santa Rosa COOP station from November 19 at 4 PM to November 22 at 4 PM. This marks the wettest three-day period on record for the station.
November 2025FloodSanta Rosa-Roadway flooding was reported on the connectors between eastbound California Highway 12 and northbound US Highway 101 and westbound Highway 12 to southbound Highway 101.
March 2021HailSanta Rosa-Santa Rosa Fire Department reports multiple vehicle accidents on hwy 101 due to accumulating small hail.
August 2020HailSanta Rosa-Video on twitter showing small hail in Santa Rosa.
January 2017FloodSanta Rosa-Freeway shutdown at Hwy 101N due to flooding.
February 2018HailSanta Rosa-no account filed
January 2018HailSanta Rosa-no account filed
June 2017HailSanta Rosa-no account filed
December 2002Heavy RainSanta Rosa-no account filed
February 1996Flash FloodSanta Rosa-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sonoma 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
Montgomery Village1.4 miles23
Roseland1.5 miles23
Monroe2.1 miles20
South Santa Rosa2.5 miles23
McCauley (historical)2.6 miles20
Bellevue2.7 miles23
Riccas Corner4.1 miles20
Melita4.3 miles23

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 RosaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q212991The 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 1659601. 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.