Solana Beach, California
22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the San Diego census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92075. It stands on San Dieguito River. The Survey maps it on the Del Mar OE W quadrangle. 12,941 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 72 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1904 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 90 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1904 against another survey:
Population over time
3 figuresSolana Beach grew from 5,023 to 12,941 between 1970 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 5,023 | |
| 2010 | 12,867 | |
| 2020 | 12,941 | +74 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 22 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.
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 2 quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1950 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Del Mar quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1967 USGS Del Mar quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1979 USGS San Diego quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1994 USGS Del Mar quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
55 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 55 fires within 5 miles of Solana Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 34 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 | 29 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 13 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 September 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 26 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Diego Unit | HERRMANN |
| 24 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | San Diego Unit | BERNARDO |
| 15 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | LEWIS |
| 5 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | not named |
| 27 August 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Diego Unit | APAJO |
| 27 August 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | San Diego Unit | GOLF CART |
| 12 August 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Diego Unit | REPOSA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Solana Beach: 6 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gemstone, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huchting Ranch Deposit | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Moonlight Beach Deposit | Gemstone | Occurrence | ||
| Coast Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Smith Construction Co. Deposit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sorrento Sand Co Deposit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Sorrento Sand Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sorrento Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Zinniger Sand Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
9 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Solana Beach in 9 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 3 flood, 2 flash flood, 1 storm surge/tide, 1 hail. 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 2010 | Flash Flood | Solana Beach | $100,000 | A band of convection moved through the San Diego County coastal areas between 1800 and 1900 PST. A clogged storm drain caused flooding at the intersection of Via de la Valle and Jimmy Durante Boulevard in Del Mar. Eight vehicles became trapped in the rapidly rising water, and eighteen people, including several children, had to be rescued by swift-water rescue teams and local lifeguards. There were no injuries. |
| January 2005 | Flash Flood | Solana Beach | $35,000 | no account filed |
| December 1998 | Storm Surge/Tide | Solana Beach | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2014 | Lightning | Solana Beach | $5,000 | Lightning struck a palm tree, which caught fire, burning the side of a home in Encinitas just south of San Elijo Lagoon. |
| February 2025 | Flood | Solana Beach | - | Received a report of a flooded roadway. |
| February 2025 | Flood | Solana Beach | - | Reported that I-5 south and Via de la Valle had flooding occurring. Between 0.5 to 0.9 of rainfall fell. |
| January 2019 | Heavy Rain | Solana Beach | - | Total rainfall along the San Diego County coastline ranged from 0.50-1.0 from January 5-7. Max hourly rainfall rates along the coast were 0.25/hr. Warmer SSTs resulted in more instability along the coast, which likely contributed to higher rainfall rates along the coast during this event. |
| May 2016 | Flood | Solana Beach | - | The Lomas Santa fe Drive off ramp from Interstate 5 was flooded. |
| November 2013 | Hail | Solana Beach | - | Solana Beach lifeguards observed dime to nickel sized hail, along with periods of smaller hail, from a thunderstorm that moved onshore. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eden Gardens | 0.7 miles | 22 | |
| Cardiff-by-the-Sea | 2.2 miles | 50 | |
| Del Mar | 2.2 miles | 22 | |
| Del Mar Heights | 3.0 miles | 22 | |
| Encinitas | 3.4 miles | 50 | |
| Rancho Santa Fe | 4.1 miles | 43 | |
| Olivenhain | 4.3 miles | 43 | |
| Leucadia | 5.6 miles | 50 |
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 Solana Beach | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q383278 | 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 1656633. 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.








