Trinidad, California
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1945 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the North Coastal census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95570. It sits by Little Head. The Survey maps it on the Trinidad quadrangle. 307 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 174 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1945 to 1982The same ground, surveyed 37 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Trinidad
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
Holy Trinity Churchlisted 1980
Trinidad Head Light Stationlisted 1991
Population over time
2 figuresTrinidad fell from 367 to 307 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 | 367 | |
| 2020 | 307 | -60 (-16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 11 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.
- 1945 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1952 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1966 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Orick quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
168 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 168 fires within 5 miles of Trinidad between 1992 and 2020, burning about 61 acres in total. None started naturally. 15 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 | 62 |
| Debris and open burning | 27 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 24 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 21 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 15 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| 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 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Northern California District | WAGON |
| 8 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Northern California District | COVE |
| 7 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | BEACH |
| 7 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | CLAM |
| 7 September 1995 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | QUARRY |
| 6 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | COVE |
| 5 September 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | OCEAN |
| 4 September 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | OKEGA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Trinidad: 3 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Platinum, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-21 Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Little River | Gold, Platinum | Occurrence | ||
| Little River | Gold, Platinum | Producer | Beach Placer | |
| Trinidad Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Walther | Gold | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Trinidad in 2 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 1 funnel cloud, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trinidad | $1,000 | Thunderstorm Wind Damage reported by law enforcement 1 mile North of Trinidad, CA. Downed power line. Tree on fire. LAT. 41.07N, LONG. -124.14W. |
| March 1997 | Funnel Cloud | Trinidad | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tsurau (historical) | 0.0 miles | 11 | |
| Westhaven | 2.3 miles | 13 | |
| Moonstone | 2.7 miles | 13 | |
| Patricks Point | 4.5 miles | 11 | |
| Crannell | 4.5 miles | 13 | |
| Clam Beach | 4.8 miles | 21 | |
| Shumig (historical) | 5.3 miles | 11 | |
| Big Lagoon | 7.0 miles | 11 |
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 Trinidad | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2051249 | 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 1660029. 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.







