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Home / Earthquakes / California

California Earthquake History

Since April 30, 1900, the USGS has recorded 1,665 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in California, 107 of them magnitude 6 or above. The strongest was M 7.9.

By decade

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Strongest in California

M 7.9 · The 1906 San Francisco, California EarthquakeApril 18, 1906M 7.5 · The 1952 Kern County, California EarthquakeJuly 21, 1952M 7.4 · 123 km W of Big Lagoon, CaliforniaJanuary 31, 1922M 7.3 · The 1992 Landers, California EarthquakeJune 28, 1992M 7.2 · The 1980 Eureka, California EarthquakeNovember 8, 1980M 7.2 · 153 km W of Big Lagoon, CaliforniaJune 15, 2005M 7.2 · The 1992 Petrolia, California EarthquakeApril 25, 1992M 7.1 · The 1923 Humboldt County, California EarthquakeJanuary 22, 1923M 7.1 · Gulf of CaliforniaDecember 9, 1901M 7.1 · Baja California, MexicoDecember 12, 1902

All recorded earthquakes

M 4.8 mwMarch 22, 2020
47km WNW of Petrolia, CA · depth 12 km
M 5.2 mwMarch 18, 2020
15km W of Petrolia, CA · depth 29 km
M 4.9 mwMarch 9, 2020
73km W of Petrolia, CA · depth 7 km
M 5.8 mwMarch 9, 2020
69km W of Petrolia, CA · depth 3 km
M 4.6 mwJanuary 25, 2020
23km NNE of Barstow, CA · depth 3 km
M 4.7 mwOctober 15, 2019
17km SSE of Tres Pinos, CA · depth 10 km
M 4.9 mwAugust 22, 2019
18km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 5 km
M 4.7 mwJuly 26, 2019
18km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 4 km
M 4.6 mwJuly 18, 2019
9km NE of Coso Junction, CA · depth 2 km
M 4.9 mwJuly 12, 2019
8km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA · depth 9 km
M 4.5 mwJuly 11, 2019
16km NNE of Coso Junction, CA · depth 1 km
M 4.5 mwJuly 7, 2019
16km W of Searles Valley, CA · depth 10 km
M 4.5 mwJuly 6, 2019
23km N of Ridgecrest, CA · depth 7 km
M 4.5 mwJuly 6, 2019
18km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 2 km
M 4.9 mwJuly 6, 2019
17km ESE of Little Lake, CA · depth 4 km
M 4.6 mwJuly 6, 2019
16km SSW of Searles Valley, CA · depth 3 km
M 4.6 mwJuly 6, 2019
15km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 5 km
M 4.8 mwJuly 6, 2019
16km ESE of Little Lake, CA · depth 2 km
M 5.4 mwJuly 6, 2019
20km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 7 km
M 4.8 mlrJuly 6, 2019
7km SE of Ridgecrest, CA · depth 10 km
M 4.7 mlrJuly 6, 2019
16km ESE of Ridgecrest, CA · depth 6 km
M 5.0 mlrJuly 6, 2019
19km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 8 km
M 5.5 mwJuly 6, 2019
15km ESE of Little Lake, CA · depth 5 km
M 4.5 mlrJuly 6, 2019
18km ESE of Little Lake, CA · depth 3 km
M 4.6 mlrJuly 6, 2019
24km ESE of Ridgecrest, CA · depth 4 km
M 4.5 mlrJuly 6, 2019
16km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 8 km
M 4.6 mlrJuly 6, 2019
23km ESE of Little Lake, CA · depth 10 km
M 4.8 mlrJuly 6, 2019
20km WNW of Searles Valley, CA · depth 11 km
M 4.5 mlrJuly 6, 2019
22km ESE of Little Lake, CA · depth 7 km
M 4.6 mlrJuly 6, 2019
16km ESE of Little Lake, CA · depth 9 km
M 4.7 mlrJuly 6, 2019
17km S of Searles Valley, CA · depth 9 km
M 4.5 mlrJuly 6, 2019
13km W of Searles Valley, CA · depth 4 km
M 4.6 mlrJuly 6, 2019
16km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 8 km
M 4.8 mlrJuly 6, 2019
15km E of Little Lake, CA · depth 9 km
M 5.0 mwJuly 6, 2019
14km WSW of Searles Valley, CA · depth 1 km
M 5.4 mwJuly 5, 2019
16km W of Searles Valley, CA · depth 7 km
M 4.5 mwJuly 4, 2019
13km SSW of Searles Valley, CA · depth 5 km
M 4.6 mwJuly 4, 2019
15km NE of Ridgecrest, CA · depth 2 km
M 4.6 mwJuly 4, 2019
7km ESE of Ridgecrest, CA · depth 3 km
M 5.6 mwJune 23, 2019
6km SSW of Petrolia, CA · depth 9 km

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Hazards Program. Older and smaller earthquakes are under-counted relative to recent decades as instrumentation improved. A record of past shaking is not a forecast. See About the Data.