Watsonville, California
27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Watsonville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95076. It stands on Salsipuedes Creek. The Survey maps it on the Watsonville West quadrangle. 52,590 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 29 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1912 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 83 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 Watsonville
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 9 records
Godfrey M. Bockius Houselisted 1989
Jose Joaquin Castro Adobelisted 1976
Judge Lee Houselisted 1980
Lettunich Buildinglisted 1992
Madison Houselisted 1984
Mansion House Hotellisted 1983
Redman Houselisted 2004
Stoesser Block and Annexlisted 1983- Watsonville City Plazalisted 1983
Population over time
2 figuresWatsonville grew from 51,199 to 52,590 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 | 51,199 | |
| 2020 | 52,590 | +1,391 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 27 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 Watsonville West quadrangle1:24000, 6 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
- 1995 USGS Watsonville West quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
478 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 478 fires within 5 miles of Watsonville between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,158 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 47 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 | 224 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 101 |
| Debris and open burning | 55 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 47 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 23 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8 |
| Smoking | 8 |
| Natural | 4 |
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 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | FREEDOM BL PAJARO_VALLEY |
| 9 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | GREEN |
| 9 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | VALLEY |
| 9 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | SAN ANDREAS |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Ellicott Slough National Wildlife Refuge | CARSON |
| 9 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | P.G.& E. #17 |
| 8 September 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | THURWACHTER |
| 8 September 2003 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | PAULSEN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Watsonville: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Titanium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triumph Steel Co | Titanium | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
3 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watsonville in 3 storm reports between 2001 and 2019: 2 hail, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2019 | Flood | Watsonville | - | Hwy 152 at Holohan Rd eastbound lane under 1 foot of water. |
| September 2017 | Hail | Watsonville | - | Pea sized hail reported by spotter near Watsonville. |
| December 2001 | Hail | Watsonville | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colache Town | 0.5 miles | 27 | |
| Freedom | 1.9 miles | 27 | |
| Nuga (historical) | 2.3 miles | 27 | |
| Johnston Corner | 3.0 miles | 27 | |
| Interlaken | 3.1 miles | 27 | |
| Amesti | 3.9 miles | 27 | |
| Larkin Valley | 3.9 miles | 27 | |
| Ellicott | 4.3 miles | 27 |
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 Watsonville | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q913543 | 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 1660138. 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.











