BlockBefore

Soquel, California

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Santa Cruz census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95073. It stands on Bates Creek. The Survey maps it on the Soquel quadrangle. 9,980 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 33 feet above sea level.

Soquel within Santa Cruz County

Then and now

1912 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 71 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Soquel, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Soquel, surveyed 1912

Compare 1912 against another survey:

On record in Soquel

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 within a mile 2 records

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Population over time

2 figures

Soquel grew from 9,644 to 9,980 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
20109,644
20209,980+336 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 24 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

436 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 436 fires within 5 miles of Soquel between 1992 and 2020, burning about 149 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 43 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/undetermined223
Equipment and vehicle use70
Arson/incendiarism43
Smoking31
Debris and open burning23
Misuse of fire by a minor21
Recreation and ceremony17
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Other causes2
Natural1

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
9 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 1994Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitP.G.&E.#14
8 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitOAK
6 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2009Debris and open burning1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
6 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitCATHEDRAL
6 September 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitZIGLER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Cruz County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 17 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Soquel: 7 past producers, 7 occurrences, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Granite, Iron. 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
Aptos PlacerIron, Titanium, MetalProducerIlmenite, Magnetite
Triumph Steel CoIron, Chromium, TitaniumOccurrence
Decomposed Granite PitStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Twin Lakes BeachGoldProducer
Twin Lakes BeachGoldPast Producer
Unnamed LocationStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Bachellor Ranch QuarryGraniteOccurrence
Decomposed Granite PitGraniteOccurrence
Neary RanchClayOccurrence
QuarryGraniteOccurrence

Every working recorded in Santa Cruz County

Storms near this place

11 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Soquel in 11 storm reports between 2003 and 2026: 5 flood, 4 flash flood, 2 debris flow. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
November 2012FloodSoquel1 killedA man drowned in the waters of Soquel Creek in Capitola during a heavy rainstorm that produced minor flooding of the creek. He drowned in a section of the creek in Perry Park at the rear of a grocery store on 809 Bay Avenue in Capitola.
March 2011Flash FloodSoquel$15,500,000Heavy rain overwhelmed a drainage pipe that runs underneath Pacific Cove Mobile Home Park, and then cascaded down Riverview Drive into the village causing damage to homes and businesses.
December 2012Flash FloodSoquel$500Soquel Creek stream gauge near Soquel reported a water level of 15.04 feet. In this area, Flooding begins at 14.5 feet. This is the peak value of the flash flooding event.
December 2012Flash FloodSoquel$500Stream Gauge on Soquel Creek reported water levels on the creek had risen to 14.62 feet. Flooding on the Creek begins above 14.5 feet.
March 2023FloodSoquel$10North Main Street in Soquel was completely washed out near Pringle Lane, after heavy rain caused debris to block the Bates Creek culvert. A temporary repair was put into place on March 11.
January 2026FloodSoquel-Roadway flooding was reported at the 4000 block of Soquel San Jose Road.
December 2022FloodSoquel-The Old Mill Mobile Home Park in Soquel was evacuated, after several mobile homes flooded. KSBW television quoted a resident as saying that the river rushed in so fast that barely had time to leave the house. The resident compared it to ocean waves in their backyard. County officials also stated that they would later find debris in Soquel Creek that blocked the flow.
January 2019FloodSoquel-Drainage ditch clogged water flooding roadway at Soquel San Jose Rd and Merlin Way.
February 2019Debris FlowSoquel-Mud slide with large chunks going into Soquel San Jose Rd.
January 2017Debris FlowSoquel-Mudslide reported blocking SB lanes of Soquel San Jose Road at Sundance Hill.
December 2003Flash FloodSoquel-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Santa Cruz 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
Capitola0.9 miles24
New Brighton (historical)1.3 miles24
Live Oak1.3 miles24
Shangri La Estates1.6 miles24
Opal Cliffs1.9 miles24
Seacliff2.4 miles24
Twin Lakes2.6 miles24
Seabright3.1 miles16

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 SoquelAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1898575The 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 1659817. 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.