Tecopa, California
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1933 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Death Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92389. It stands on Tecopa Wash. The Survey maps it on the Tecopa quadrangle. 120 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,339 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1933 to 1993The same ground, surveyed 60 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresTecopa fell from 150 to 120 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 | 150 | |
| 2020 | 120 | -30 (-20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 21 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.
- 1933 USGS Avawatz Mountains quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1947 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS Tecopa quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1951 USGS Tecopa quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1960 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Tecopa quadrangle1:24000
- 1993 USGS Owlshead Mountains quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
5 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Tecopa between 1996 and 2018, burning about 253 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 September 2017 | Natural | 30 acres | California Desert District | TECOPA |
| 28 August 2010 | Natural | 106 acres | California Desert District | TECOPA |
| 16 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Desert District | TECOPA |
| 5 March 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 110 acres | California Desert District | TECOPA |
| 11 October 1996 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | California Desert District | LAGOON |
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 18 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Tecopa: 7 past producers, 4 prospects, 3 producers, 2 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Talc-Soapstone, Silica, Zeolites, Bentonite. 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 Raven Prospect | Copper | Prospect | ||
| Blue Dick | Lead, Zinc, Silver, Copper, Gold | Past Producer | Replacement | |
| Blue Dick | Lead, Copper, Silver, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Borax | Boron-Borates | Past Producer | ||
| Gypsum Rock | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Past Producer | ||
| Ibex-Bentonite | Bentonite | Past Producer | ||
| Tecopa Community Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Tecopa Hot Spring | Geothermal | Occurrence | ||
| Tecopa Pit and Mill | Stone, Dimension | Producer | ||
| Upper Canyon Nitrate Deposit | Nitrogen-Nitrates | Prospect |
Storms near this place
9 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tecopa in 9 storm reports between 2008 and 2024: 7 flash flood, 1 hail, 1 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2010 | Flash Flood | Tecopa | $500,000 | The community of Tecopa was completely cut off when the only three paved roads into and out of the town were flooded. More than 18 inches of water flowed across one road for two days straight. |
| February 2024 | Flood | Tecopa | $50,000 | Numerous roads in Inyo County were closed due to flooding/washouts. The times were estimated. One vehicle got stuck in the flooding. |
| September 2008 | Flash Flood | Tecopa | $25,000 | Highway 127 was flooded 10 miles south of Shoshone. A deputy lost his patrol car in the floodwaters, which he estimated to be at least 20 inches deep in two places. |
| October 2015 | Flash Flood | Tecopa | $10,000 | Highway 127 was flooded at Inyo County mile marker 8. One vehicle was overturned. |
| July 2017 | Flash Flood | Tecopa | $2,000 | Debris flowed over Old Spanish Trail Highway. |
| July 2021 | Flash Flood | Tecopa | $1,000 | Highway 127 was flooded. |
| September 2017 | Flash Flood | Tecopa | $1,000 | Highway 127 was flooded at Old Spanish Trail. |
| August 2014 | Flash Flood | Tecopa | $1,000 | Water six to seven inches deep flowed over Highway 127. |
| October 2012 | Hail | Tecopa | - | A spotter in Charleston View measured one inch hail. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoshone | 8.9 miles | 20 | |
| Charleston View | 19.2 miles | 26 | |
| Calvada Springs | 19.4 miles | 26 | |
| Evelyn | 21.1 miles | 24 | |
| Ashford Junction | 24.1 miles | 21 | |
| Ashford Mill (historical) | 24.8 miles | 21 | |
| Greenwater (historical) | 30.8 miles | 24 | |
| Lila C (historical) | 30.8 miles | 24 |
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 Tecopa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2090811 | 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 250293. 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.









