Thermal, California
30 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Coachella Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92274. The Survey maps it on the Indio quadrangle. 2,676 people lived here at the 2020 count. It lies 138 feet below sea level.
Then and now
1904 to 1984The same ground, surveyed 80 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 figuresThermal fell from 2,865 to 2,676 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 | 2,865 | |
| 2020 | 2,676 | -189 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 30 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.
- 1904 USGS Indio quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1941 USGS Coachella quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS Coachella quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Coachella quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Indio quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Indio quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Palm Springs quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
705 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 705 fires within 5 miles of Thermal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 14,142 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 59 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 | 380 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 85 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 66 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 59 |
| Debris and open burning | 58 |
| Smoking | 30 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 19 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Riverside Unit | AIRPORT |
| 8 September 1995 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL |
| 7 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | 57 |
| 5 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | AVE 47 / TYLER ST |
| 5 September 2002 | Natural | 50 acres | Riverside Unit | LOCAL |
| 30 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Desert District | UNNAMED FIRE 2756 |
| 30 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL |
| 30 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Riverside Unit | LOCAL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Thermal: 2 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Top Clay Deposit | Clay | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Airport Blvd. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Thermal Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thermal in 1 storm report in 2001: 1 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2001 | Flash Flood | Thermal | $1,200,000 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandy Korner | 2.2 miles | 30 | |
| Coachella | 3.3 miles | 30 | |
| Vista Santa Rosa | 4.3 miles | 30 | |
| Valerie | 5.4 miles | 28 | |
| Martinez | 5.4 miles | 28 | |
| One Hundred Palms | 5.7 miles | 28 | |
| Mecca | 5.8 miles | 28 | |
| Indio | 6.9 miles | 30 |
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 Thermal | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q133921 | 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 250426. 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.












