South Whittier, California
47 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Whittier census division. It lies in ZIP code area 90602. It stands on Savage Creek. The Survey maps it on the Whittier quadrangle. 56,415 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 177 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1896 to 1981The same ground, surveyed 85 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1896 against another survey:
On record in South Whittier
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.
Orin Jordan Houselisted 1980 · 0.5 miles away
Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, Whittierlisted 2005 · 1.0 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresSouth Whittier fell from 57,156 to 56,415 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 | 57,156 | |
| 2020 | 56,415 | -741 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
19 surveys from 47 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.
- 1896 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1902 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1923 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000
- 1925 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS San Pedro quadrangle1:125000
- 1949 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000
- 1951 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1974 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
326 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 326 fires within 5 miles of South Whittier between 2005 and 2020, burning about 227 acres in total. None started naturally. 33 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 | 210 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 33 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 29 |
| Smoking | 29 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2005 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 30 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 3 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 12 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of South Whittier: 6 past producers, 3 prospects, 2 producers, 1 occurrence. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Monte Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| J. A. Houlihan Property | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Prospect | ||
| Murphy Ranch | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Murphy Ranch | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Atlas Sewer Pipe Co | Clay | Prospect | Sedimentary | |
| Atlas Sewer Pipe Co. Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Gladding Mcbean & Co. - Pico Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Gladding Mcbean - Pico Pit | Clay | Prospect | Sedimentary | |
| Pacific Clay Products Co | Clay | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Pacific Clay Products Co. East Pit | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2022Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South Whittier in 1 storm report in 2022: 1 lightning. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2022 | Lightning | South Whittier | 1 killed | In the community of Pico Rivera, a woman was struck and killed by a bolt of lightning. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evergreen (historical) | 0.6 miles | 47 | |
| Valla | 1.0 miles | 47 | |
| East Whittier | 1.3 miles | 47 | |
| Whittier | 1.3 miles | 47 | |
| Los Nietos Junction | 1.5 miles | 47 | |
| Los Nietos | 1.6 miles | 47 | |
| Colima | 1.9 miles | 47 | |
| Friendly Hills | 2.1 miles | 47 |
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 Whittier | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q531275 | 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 1661484. 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.


















