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Regional activity

California, in motion.

Recent earthquakes and the geology behind them.

A vintage California poster shows a fault landscape cutting diagonally across golden California grasslands and rolling hills.
An illustration inspired by California’s fault landscapes.

California sits across an active plate boundary. This page brings together recent USGS earthquake reports and an introduction to the faults that shape the region.

California & nearby areas

Recent earthquake activity

M2.5+ · Seven days ending at the feed timestamp · Newest first

Published snapshot. Times below are UTC. JavaScript refreshes this list from USGS on load and every five minutes while the page is visible.

USGS feed generated .

  1. M2.71
    4 km NE of Temecula, CA · Depth 10.4 km
  2. M3.34
    3 km ESE of Larkfield-Wikiup, CA · Depth 8.8 km
  3. M2.78
    15 km SE of Petrolia, CA · Depth 11.3 km
  4. M3.2
    6 km SE of Ontario, CA · Depth 6.1 km
  5. M2.96
    4 km WSW of Hamilton City, CA · Depth 25.6 km
  6. M2.57
    2 km N of Middletown, CA · Depth 4.2 km
  7. M2.91
    22 km SSW of La Quinta, CA · Depth 9.9 km
  8. M2.65
    2 km NW of Delta, B.C., MX · Depth 17.7 km

Coverage: 32–42°N, 125–114°W, including offshore areas and parts of neighboring states and Mexico. This is a regional window, not a California state-boundary count. Reports may arrive later or be revised. Informational data; no earthquake early warnings.

Check the latest USGS earthquake map ↗

Explore the region

Open the California view to rotate the globe, inspect earthquakes, and compare the activity with tectonic boundaries. Explorer starts at M3+, so its count may be lower than the M2.5+ list above.

Open California on the globe
Explore the interactive map on this page

Why does California have so many earthquakes?

Much of the state’s activity reflects relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates. The San Andreas Fault system accommodates part of that motion, along with other faults across the region. Stress builds where faults resist motion and is released when rocks slip.

More than the San Andreas

The Hayward Fault in Northern California and the San Jacinto Fault in Southern California are examples of other important faults in this system. A global plate-boundary map simplifies this network: it does not show every active fault.

California’s geology also varies from region to region. To explore how the movements differ, see the diagrams for transform, convergent, and divergent boundaries.

Reading the recent activity

A group of nearby earthquakes may include an aftershock sequence or a swarm. The map alone does not classify them. A quiet seven-day window is also too short to describe a region’s long-term earthquake hazard.

If you felt shaking but do not see an event, it may be below this page’s magnitude threshold, outside the displayed window, or not yet reported. Follow the USGS links for additional observations. Magnitude does not directly describe how strongly your location shook; intensity does.

Sources & further reading

By Josh Clemm · Reviewed September 5, 2026. Educational information from Earthquake Alert; no earthquake early warnings.