Whittier, California
47 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Whittier census division. It lies in ZIP code area 90601. It lies near Turnbull Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Whittier quadrangle. 87,306 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 367 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:
On record in Whittier
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 7 records
Jonathan Bailey Houselisted 1977
Hoover Hotellisted 2002
Orin Jordan Houselisted 1980
National Bank of Whittier Buildinglisted 1982
Pio Pico Casalisted 1973
Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, Whittierlisted 2005
Standard Oil Buildinglisted 1980
Population over time
2 figuresWhittier grew from 85,331 to 87,306 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 | 85,331 | |
| 2020 | 87,306 | +1,975 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
19 surveys from 47 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
- 1923 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000
- 1925 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000, 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 Whittier quadrangle1:24000
- 1951 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1974 USGS Whittier quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
383 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 383 fires within 5 miles of Whittier between 2005 and 2020, burning about 394 acres in total. None started naturally. 34 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 | 246 |
| Smoking | 38 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 35 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 34 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 20 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
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 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.5 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2010 | Smoking | 3.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 14 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Whittier: 7 past producers, 3 prospects, 3 producers, 1 occurrence. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Calcium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Industry Plant | Calcium | Producer | ||
| El Monte Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| J. A. Houlihan Property | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Prospect | ||
| Murphy Ranch | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Murphy Ranch | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Atlas Sewer Pipe Co | Clay | Prospect | Sedimentary | |
| Atlas Sewer Pipe Co. Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Gladding Mcbean & Co. - Pico Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Gladding Mcbean - Pico Pit | Clay | Prospect | Sedimentary | |
| Pacific Clay Products Co | Clay | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
Storms near this place
3 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Whittier in 3 storm reports between 1995 and 2022: 2 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 death. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2022 | Lightning | South Whittier | 1 killed | In the community of Pico Rivera, a woman was struck and killed by a bolt of lightning. |
| June 1995 | Tornado (F0) | Whittier | - | A severe thunderstorm spawned a tornado that briefly touched down on the 14800 block of Dalman Street. Witnesses said it tore through a chain link gate, swirled rubbish cans in the air, and snapped off ten-foot long tree branches. A rain gutter was also torn from a house. |
| December 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Whittier | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evergreen (historical) | 1.1 miles | 47 | |
| East Whittier | 1.3 miles | 47 | |
| South Whittier | 1.3 miles | 47 | |
| West Whittier | 1.4 miles | 47 | |
| Valla | 2.0 miles | 47 | |
| Los Nietos | 2.1 miles | 47 | |
| Los Nietos Junction | 2.3 miles | 47 | |
| Friendly Hills | 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 Whittier | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q838791 | 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 1652813. 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.


















