South San Francisco, California
43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the South San Francisco census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94080. It stands on Colma Creek. The Survey maps it on the San Francisco South quadrangle. 66,105 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 16 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1892 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1892 against another survey:
On record in South San Francisco
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 2 records
Martin Buildinglisted 1997
South San Francisco Hillside Signlisted 1996
Population over time
4 figuresSouth San Francisco grew from 54,312 to 66,105 between 1990 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 54,312 | |
| 2000 | 60,552 | +6,240 (+11%) |
| 2010 | 63,632 | +3,080 (+5%) |
| 2020 | 66,105 | +2,473 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
22 surveys from 43 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.
- 1892 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1896 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1915 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1939 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1943 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS San Francisco South quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS San Francisco South quadrangle1:24000
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS San Francisco South quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS San Francisco South quadrangle1:24000
- 1995 USGS San Francisco South quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
398 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 398 fires within 5 miles of South San Francisco between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,537 acres in total. None started naturally. 36 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 | 249 |
| Smoking | 44 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 36 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 26 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 24 |
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Fireworks | 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 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 2009 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | BRUNO |
| 7 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | CHESTNUT 2 |
| 7 September 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | A1 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 34 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 34 workings within 5 miles of South San Francisco: 19 past producers, 15 producers. 15 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver, Lead, Zinc. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Mountain | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Black Mtn. | Gold | Past Producer | Gold | |
| Brisbane Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Marine Magnes Div. | Magnesite | Producer | ||
| Marine Magnes Div. | Magnesite | Past Producer | ||
| Marine Magnesium Co. Seawater Plant | Magnesite | Producer | ||
| Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| South San Fran. Land & Imp. Co. | Silver, Lead, Zinc | Producer | ||
| South San Fran. Land & Imp. Co. | Silver, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South San Francisco in 1 storm report in 2005: 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2005 | Tornado (F1) | South San Francisco | $800,000 | An F1 tornado touched down in South San Francisco damaging approximately 60 structures. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tanforan | 1.1 miles | 43 | |
| Baden | 1.4 miles | 43 | |
| San Bruno | 1.7 miles | 43 | |
| Brisbane | 1.8 miles | 43 | |
| Lomita Park | 2.6 miles | 43 | |
| Westborough | 2.8 miles | 43 | |
| Colma | 3.2 miles | 43 | |
| Bayshore | 3.6 miles | 43 |
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 South San Francisco | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q927122 | 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 277618. 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.





















