Tehachapi, California
27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Tehachapi census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93561. The Survey maps it on the Tehachapi North quadrangle. 12,939 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,970 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1915 to 1992The same ground, surveyed 77 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1915 against another survey:
On record in Tehachapi
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 3 records
Errea Houselisted 1997
Courtlandt Gross Houselisted 1987
Tehachapi Railroad Depotlisted 1999
Population over time
2 figuresTehachapi fell from 14,414 to 12,939 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 | 14,414 | |
| 2020 | 12,939 | -1,475 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 27 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.
- 1915 USGS Mojave quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1943 USGS Tehachapi quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1948 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Tehachapi North quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1978 USGS Tehachapi quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Tehachapi North quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
155 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 155 fires within 5 miles of Tehachapi between 1992 and 2020, burning about 6,230 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 17 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 | 84 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 20 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 18 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 17 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 9 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 acres | Kern County Fire Department | VISTA |
| 9 September 2012 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1.0 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 6 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 5 September 2017 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Central California District | WATER |
| 4 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.1 acres | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 4 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,128 acres | California Desert District | CANYON |
| 28 September 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 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 19 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Tehachapi: 12 past producers, 5 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Tungsten, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Got Rocks | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Monolith Cement Plant | Calcium | Producer | ||
| Pine Tree Mine | Gold, Tungsten | Past Producer | ||
| Summit Lime Co. | Tungsten, Gold | Occurrence | Gold, Scheelite | |
| Tehachapi | Mercury | Producer | ||
| Tehachapi Lake Clay Deposit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Pine Tree | Gold | Producer | ||
| Pine Tree | Gold, Tungsten | Past Producer | ||
| Summit Lime Co. | Tungsten | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Summit Lime Quarry | Limestone, General, Tungsten | Producer |
Storms near this place
25 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tehachapi in 25 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 6 heavy rain, 5 flood, 4 flash flood, 3 wildfire. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1997 | Wildfire | Tehachapi | $200,000 | 1151 acres of grassland and forest were destroyed. |
| November 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tehachapi | $80,000 | Thunderstorm wind, aided by terrain channeling up a mountain side, lifted a patio deck subsequently pulling the roof off from a house southwest of Stallion Springs. The damage was very localized, but totally demolishing one house. Small hail occurred with the thunderstorm passage as reported by a couple of witnesses. |
| August 2000 | Lightning | Tehachapi | $10,000 | Thunderstorm activity again occurred for many of the desert and mountain areas of Interior Central California. With frequent lightning activity occurring, a lightning strike was reported to have caused a car fire in the Tehachapi area of the Kern County Mountains. There were no injuries reported. |
| July 2003 | Flash Flood | Tehachapi | $5,000 | Highline Road southwest of Tehachapi in the Kern County Mountains was closed due to flooding over the roadway in the late afternoon/early evening of the 31st. |
| September 1997 | Lightning | Tehachapi | $5,000 | Lightning strike from early morning thunderstorm activity. |
| April 2003 | Heavy Rain | Tehachapi | $1,000 | no account filed |
| August 2023 | Flood | Tehachapi | - | California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding on Sand Canyon Rd. north of SR 58. |
| August 2022 | Flood | Tehachapi | - | Broadcast media report of street flooding in downtown Tehachapi as the result of heavy rainfall. |
| August 2022 | Heavy Rain | Tehachapi | - | A HADS station 6NE Tehachapi measured 1.52 inches of rainfall from a thunderstorm in two hours. |
| August 2022 | Heavy Rain | Tehachapi | - | The KRN02 RAWS 3S Tehachapi measured 0.66 inches of rainfall from a thunderstorm in two hours. |
| January 2017 | Flood | Tehachapi | - | California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding at Highway 58 and State Route 202 near Tehachapi. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Tehachapi | - | Over two inches of rain fell over Tehachapi during the afternoon of the 12th. This resulted in a mud/debris flow near highway 58 and highway 202 in the center of Tehachapi, which closed the roadway for a couple of hours. |
| February 2005 | Hail | Tehachapi | - | Hail varying from 3/4 to 1" was reported at Alpine Forest southwest of Tehachapi in the Kern County Mountains. |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Tehachapi | - | The Hillside Fire along Highway 58 and fought by Kern County Fire Department burned 1830 acres. Its cost and cause are unknown but there were no structures or lives lost. |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Tehachapi | - | The Mercury Fire was fought by the Kern County Fire Department and it burned 300 acres. Its cause was human and no costs are known. There were no structures or lives lost in the fire. |
| February 2000 | Flood | Tehachapi | - | Local road flooding with debris deposited on the roadway occurred in the Tehachapi Valley along Highline Road. |
| February 2006 | Heavy Rain | Tehachapi | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Heavy Rain | Tehachapi | - | no account filed |
| October 2005 | Heavy Rain | Tehachapi | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Flash Flood | Tehachapi | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Flash Flood | Tehachapi | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | High Wind | Tehachapi | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Tehachapi | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Lightning | Tehachapi | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Flood | Tehachapi | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summit | 1.9 miles | 27 | |
| Mountain Meadows | 2.0 miles | 26 | |
| Golden Hills | 2.3 miles | 27 | |
| Sullivan (historical) | 2.3 miles | 27 | |
| Old Town | 2.5 miles | 27 | |
| Cable | 2.9 miles | 27 | |
| Monolith | 4.0 miles | 27 | |
| Marcel | 5.4 miles | 27 |
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 Tehachapi | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q985253 | 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 1652798. 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.










