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.
Then and now
1912 to 1983The 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.


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.
Rispin Mansionlisted 1991 · 0.6 miles away- Old Riverview Historic Districtlisted 1988 · 1.0 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresSoquel 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 9,644 | |
| 2020 | 9,980 | +336 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 24 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.
- 1912 USGS Capitola quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1914 USGS Capitola quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1940 USGS Capitola quadrangle1:62500
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Soquel quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
436 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 223 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 70 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 43 |
| Smoking | 31 |
| Debris and open burning | 23 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 21 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 17 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | P.G.&E.#14 |
| 8 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | OAK |
| 6 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | not named |
| 6 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | CATHEDRAL |
| 6 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | ZIGLER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 17 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aptos Placer | Iron, Titanium, Metal | Producer | Ilmenite, Magnetite | |
| Triumph Steel Co | Iron, Chromium, Titanium | Occurrence | ||
| Decomposed Granite Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Twin Lakes Beach | Gold | Producer | ||
| Twin Lakes Beach | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Bachellor Ranch Quarry | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Decomposed Granite Pit | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Neary Ranch | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Quarry | Granite | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
11 since 2003Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2012 | Flood | Soquel | 1 killed | A 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 2011 | Flash Flood | Soquel | $15,500,000 | Heavy 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 2012 | Flash Flood | Soquel | $500 | Soquel 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 2012 | Flash Flood | Soquel | $500 | Stream 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 2023 | Flood | Soquel | $10 | North 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 2026 | Flood | Soquel | - | Roadway flooding was reported at the 4000 block of Soquel San Jose Road. |
| December 2022 | Flood | Soquel | - | 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 2019 | Flood | Soquel | - | Drainage ditch clogged water flooding roadway at Soquel San Jose Rd and Merlin Way. |
| February 2019 | Debris Flow | Soquel | - | Mud slide with large chunks going into Soquel San Jose Rd. |
| January 2017 | Debris Flow | Soquel | - | Mudslide reported blocking SB lanes of Soquel San Jose Road at Sundance Hill. |
| December 2003 | Flash Flood | Soquel | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capitola | 0.9 miles | 24 | |
| New Brighton (historical) | 1.3 miles | 24 | |
| Live Oak | 1.3 miles | 24 | |
| Shangri La Estates | 1.6 miles | 24 | |
| Opal Cliffs | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| Seacliff | 2.4 miles | 24 | |
| Twin Lakes | 2.6 miles | 24 | |
| Seabright | 3.1 miles | 16 |
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 Soquel | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1898575 | 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 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.










