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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.

Solana Beach within San Diego County

Then and now

1904 to 1994

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Solana Beach, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Solana Beach, surveyed 1904

Compare 1904 against another survey:

Population over time

3 figures

Solana 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.

YearPeople Change
19705,023
201012,867
202012,941+74 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 22 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

55 since 1992

Regional 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/undetermined29
Equipment and vehicle use13
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Recreation and ceremony4
Arson/incendiarism3
Debris and open burning2

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
27 September 2005Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
26 September 1992Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Diego UnitHERRMANN
24 September 2004Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresSan Diego UnitBERNARDO
15 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Diego UnitLEWIS
5 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSan Diego Unitnot named
27 August 2002Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Diego UnitAPAJO
27 August 1994Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSan Diego UnitGOLF CART
12 August 2006Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSan Diego UnitREPOSA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Diego County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Huchting Ranch DepositClayOccurrence
Moonlight Beach DepositGemstoneOccurrence
Coast Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Smith Construction Co. DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Sorrento Sand Co DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Sorrento Sand Co.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Sorrento Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unnamed Borrow PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Zinniger Sand PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in San Diego County

Storms near this place

9 since 1998

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2010Flash FloodSolana Beach$100,000A 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 2005Flash FloodSolana Beach$35,000no account filed
December 1998Storm Surge/TideSolana Beach$10,000no account filed
July 2014LightningSolana Beach$5,000Lightning struck a palm tree, which caught fire, burning the side of a home in Encinitas just south of San Elijo Lagoon.
February 2025FloodSolana Beach-Received a report of a flooded roadway.
February 2025FloodSolana Beach-Reported that I-5 south and Via de la Valle had flooding occurring. Between 0.5 to 0.9 of rainfall fell.
January 2019Heavy RainSolana 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 2016FloodSolana Beach-The Lomas Santa fe Drive off ramp from Interstate 5 was flooded.
November 2013HailSolana Beach-Solana Beach lifeguards observed dime to nickel sized hail, along with periods of smaller hail, from a thunderstorm that moved onshore.

Every storm recorded in San Diego 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
Eden Gardens0.7 miles22
Cardiff-by-the-Sea2.2 miles50
Del Mar2.2 miles22
Del Mar Heights3.0 miles22
Encinitas3.4 miles50
Rancho Santa Fe4.1 miles43
Olivenhain4.3 miles43
Leucadia5.6 miles50

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 BeachAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q383278The 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.