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.
Then and now
1896 to 1981The 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.


Compare 1896 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresWestminster 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 89,701 | |
| 2020 | 90,911 | +1,210 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
18 surveys from 45 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.
- 1896 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1902 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1935 USGS Los Alamitos quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS San Pedro quadrangle1:125000
- 1949 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Los Alamitos quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Los Alamitos quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Los Alamitos quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1974 USGS Los Alamitos quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
305 since 1998Regional 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/undetermined | 155 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 48 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 31 |
| Smoking | 26 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 23 |
| Debris and open burning | 19 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 3 September 2006 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 26 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 25 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 24 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 23 September 2011 | Smoking | under an acre | Orange County Fire Authority | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntington Beach Asphalt and Rock | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| La Bolsa Tile Co. | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2025Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2025 | Flood | Westminster | - | Report of a flood via mPing. |
| November 2025 | Heavy Rain | Westminster | - | Mesonet station WMRC1 Westminster Orange reported hourly rainfall rate of 1.84 inches between 9:30 pm and 10:30 pm. |
| November 2025 | Flash Flood | Westminster | - | 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. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barber City | 0.9 miles | 45 | |
| Green Lantern Village | 1.1 miles | 44 | |
| Midway City | 1.4 miles | 47 | |
| Sugar (historical) | 1.5 miles | 47 | |
| Del Prado Bolsa | 1.6 miles | 47 | |
| Driftwood Mobile Home Park | 1.8 miles | 47 | |
| Smeltzer | 2.1 miles | 47 | |
| Villa Magnolia Mobile Home Park | 2.3 miles | 47 |
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 Westminster | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q838759 | 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 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.

















