Waterford, California
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Waterford census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95386. The Survey maps it on the Waterford quadrangle. 9,120 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 171 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1916 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
3 figuresWaterford grew from 6,924 to 9,120 between 2000 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 6,924 | |
| 2010 | 8,456 | +1,532 (+22%) |
| 2020 | 9,120 | +664 (+8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 16 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.
- 1916 USGS Waterford quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1939 USGS Modesto East quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Modesto East quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Waterford quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Waterford quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Oakdale quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
81 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 81 fires within 5 miles of Waterford between 2005 and 2020, burning about 92 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 | 61 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 30 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 26 September 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | not named |
| 19 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 15 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Waterford: 8 producers, 5 unknowns, 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Dimension, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Fe Rock and Sand Co | Stone, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| Tailings | Gold | Occurrence | ||
| 7-11 Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| American Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Charles Warner | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| George & Wendell G Reed | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Products Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Hickman Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Hughson Gravel Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Johnson Brothers | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
1 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Waterford in 1 storm report in 2016: 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2016 | Tornado (EF0) | Waterford | $500 | An EF0 tornado with swirling debris was observed near Hickman elementary school by a Sheriff's deputy and several members of the public. A large eucalyptus tree was uprooted, a shed was moved off its foundation and pushed into a fence, and a green house was damaged. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hickman | 1.3 miles | 19 | |
| Claribel | 6.1 miles | 16 | |
| Hughson | 6.4 miles | 19 | |
| Paulsell | 6.5 miles | 14 | |
| Montpelier | 7.2 miles | 15 | |
| Empire | 7.5 miles | 17 | |
| Denair | 8.2 miles | 19 | |
| Arnold (historical) | 8.5 miles | 19 |
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 Waterford | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2600861 | 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 1660135. 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.









