BlockBefore

Westminster, California

45 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the North Coast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92683. The Survey maps it on the Los Alamitos quadrangle. 90,911 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 39 feet above sea level.

Westminster within Orange County

Then and now

1896 to 1981

The same ground, surveyed 85 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Westminster, surveyed 1981
Topographic sheet of Westminster, surveyed 1896

Compare 1896 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Westminster grew from 89,701 to 90,911 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
201089,701
202090,911+1,210 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

18 surveys from 45 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

305 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 305 fires within 5 miles of Westminster between 1998 and 2020, burning about 7,077 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 48 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/undetermined155
Arson/incendiarism48
Equipment and vehicle use31
Smoking26
Misuse of fire by a minor23
Debris and open burning19
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
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
8 September 2009Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2009Debris and open burning1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2006Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
26 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
25 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
24 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
23 September 2011Smokingunder an acreOrange County Fire Authoritynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Westminster: 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. 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
Huntington Beach Asphalt and RockSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
La Bolsa Tile Co.ClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this place

3 since 2025

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Westminster in 3 storm reports in 2025: 1 flood, 1 heavy rain, 1 flash 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
February 2025FloodWestminster-Report of a flood via mPing.
November 2025Heavy RainWestminster-Mesonet station WMRC1 Westminster Orange reported hourly rainfall rate of 1.84 inches between 9:30 pm and 10:30 pm.
November 2025Flash FloodWestminster-ABC7 news reported flooding of Edwards St, north of the 405 in Westminster. Video showed approximately 6-12 inches of water on the road. Westminster alert gauge reported 1.45 inches of rain in 42 minutes.

Every storm recorded in Orange 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
Barber City0.9 miles45
Green Lantern Village1.1 miles44
Midway City1.4 miles47
Sugar (historical)1.5 miles47
Del Prado Bolsa1.6 miles47
Driftwood Mobile Home Park1.8 miles47
Smeltzer2.1 miles47
Villa Magnolia Mobile Home Park2.3 miles47

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 WestminsterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q838759The 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 1652811. 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.