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.
Then and now
1912 to 1983The 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.


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.
Looff Carousel and Roller Coaster on the Santa Cruz Beach BoardwalkNational Historic Landmark · listed 1987 · 1.0 miles away- Live Oak Ranchlisted 1975 · 0.7 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresTwin 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 4,917 | |
| 2020 | 4,944 | +27 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 24 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.
- 1912 USGS Capitola quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1914 USGS Capitola quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1940 USGS Capitola quadrangle1:62500
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Soquel quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
418 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 211 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 60 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 54 |
| Smoking | 30 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 24 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Natural | 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 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | P.G.&E.#14 |
| 8 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | OAK |
| 6 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | ZIGLER |
| 4 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | EMPIRE |
| 30 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 23 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aptos Placer | Iron, Titanium, Metal | Producer | Ilmenite, Magnetite | |
| Bachellor Ranch Quarry | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Decomposed Granite Pit | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Henry Cowell Lime & Cement Co | Limestone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Pacific Cement and Aggregate Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Limestone, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Location | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Stribling Mine | Gold | Unknown | ||
| Twin Lakes Beach | Gold | Producer | ||
| Twin Lakes Beach | Gold | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2019Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2024 | Flood | Twin Lakes | $10 | Water was reported on all three lanes of Northbound California 1 near La Fonda Ave and under the Soquel Bridge. |
| February 2025 | Flood | Twin Lakes | - | Around 6 inches of standing water were reported on northbound California Highway 1 at Morrissey Boulevard. |
| February 2019 | Flood | Twin Lakes | - | Car submerged in water on Brookwood Dr. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seabright | 0.5 miles | 16 | |
| Live Oak | 1.4 miles | 24 | |
| Shangri La Estates | 1.7 miles | 24 | |
| Santa Cruz | 1.8 miles | 16 | |
| Opal Cliffs | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| Pueblo de Figueroa (historical) | 1.9 miles | 16 | |
| Allegro Heights | 2.1 miles | 16 | |
| Capitola | 2.4 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 Twin Lakes | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2133403 | 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 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.










