BlockBefore

Twin Lakes, California

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Santa Cruz census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95062. It lies near Arana Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Soquel quadrangle. 4,944 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 52 feet above sea level.

Twin Lakes within Santa Cruz County

Then and now

1912 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 71 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Twin Lakes, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Twin Lakes, surveyed 1912

Compare 1912 against another survey:

On record in Twin Lakes

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.

Population over time

2 figures

Twin Lakes grew from 4,917 to 4,944 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.

YearPeople Change
20104,917
20204,944+27 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 24 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

418 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 418 fires within 5 miles of Twin Lakes between 1992 and 2020, burning about 177 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 54 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/undetermined211
Equipment and vehicle use60
Arson/incendiarism54
Smoking30
Recreation and ceremony24
Misuse of fire by a minor18
Debris and open burning14
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Other causes2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 1994Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitP.G.&E.#14
8 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitOAK
6 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitZIGLER
4 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitEMPIRE
30 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Cruz County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 23 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 23 workings within 5 miles of Twin Lakes: 12 past producers, 5 producers, 5 occurrences, 1 unknown. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Clay, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Aptos PlacerIron, Titanium, MetalProducerIlmenite, Magnetite
Bachellor Ranch QuarryGraniteOccurrence
Decomposed Granite PitGraniteOccurrence
Henry Cowell Lime & Cement CoLimestone, DimensionPast Producer
Pacific Cement and Aggregate CoSand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Unnamed LocationLimestone, DimensionOccurrence
Unnamed LocationStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Stribling MineGoldUnknown
Twin Lakes BeachGoldProducer
Twin Lakes BeachGoldPast Producer

Every working recorded in Santa Cruz County

Storms near this place

3 since 2019

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Twin Lakes in 3 storm reports between 2019 and 2025: 3 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2024FloodTwin Lakes$10Water was reported on all three lanes of Northbound California 1 near La Fonda Ave and under the Soquel Bridge.
February 2025FloodTwin Lakes-Around 6 inches of standing water were reported on northbound California Highway 1 at Morrissey Boulevard.
February 2019FloodTwin Lakes-Car submerged in water on Brookwood Dr.

Every storm recorded in Santa Cruz County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Seabright0.5 miles16
Live Oak1.4 miles24
Shangri La Estates1.7 miles24
Santa Cruz1.8 miles16
Opal Cliffs1.9 miles24
Pueblo de Figueroa (historical)1.9 miles16
Allegro Heights2.1 miles16
Capitola2.4 miles24

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 Twin LakesAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2133403The 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 1660053. 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.