Wrightwood is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It sits at an elevation of . The population was 4,720 at the 2020 census, up from 4,525 at the 2010 census. Wrightwood is located northeast of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. It is on the

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

History

Located in a pine-covered valley in the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains () are a mountain range located in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert ...

, the Wrightwood area was first developed as cattle ranches in the 19th century by Nathan and Truman Swarthout. Later, the main ranch, owned by Sumner Wright, was broken up into residential and commercial lots, and by the 1920s a community had taken root. Early ski enthusiasts discovered the north-facing slopes of the San Gabriels above the Swarthout Valley. Until 1937, the ski area, originally known as Big Pines, was part of a Los Angeles County park. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Big Pines opened their 1946–47 ski season with a new chairlift and the Sepp Benedikter Ski School (according to their ad in the February 1947 issue of ''Western Skiing'' magazine). Highways were built connecting to the major routes in the Cajon Pass, making Wrightwood accessible without serious mountain driving. In 1934, on two separate occasions a black bear was shot and killed by a Wrightwood resident. J. Dale Gentry, chairman of the California Fish and Game Commission, applied pressure to file charges against the two men. One of the men, Clyde Steele, was found not guilty at trial; the charges were dropped against the other man. The former vacation community is now home to over 4,000 full-time residents.

Serrano High School Serrano High School is a public high school in the High Desert (California), California High Desert community of Phelan, California. It serves students from Phelan, Wrightwood, California, Wrightwood and Piñon Hills, California, Piñon Hills. It i ...

in the neighboring community of Phelan opened in 1982; it also serves Wrightwood and the neighboring community of Piñon Hills. In August 2016, part of Wrightwood's population was evacuated as part of mandatory evacuations of over 82,000 people in

due to the Blue Cut Fire. In September 2020, the

Bobcat Fire The Bobcat Fire was a large wildfire in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County during the 2020 California wildfire season. The fire ignited on September 6, 2020, and burned before it was fully contained by November 27. The Bobcat F ...

caused evacuation warnings for the Wrightwood area as it raged across the San Gabriel Mountains. In September 2024, the Bridge Fire caused the entire town to be evacuated.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , 99.94% of it land and 0.06% of it water. The climate is

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Csb'') influenced by its highland position. Summers are vastly moderated by the cooling down of the air at the higher elevation compared to the hot plains to its north and the

San Bernardino Valley The San Bernardino Valley () is a valley in Southern California located at the south base of the Transverse Ranges. It is bordered on the north by the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains; on the east by the San Jacin ...

to the south, although share the similar dry features and a lack of summer thunderstorms. In winter, the Mediterranean tendencies of the more semi-arid lowland areas are exaggerated by

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

, causing precipitation comparable to areas much further north in California. However, due to the elevation, a lot of winter precipitation falls as snow. Even so, daytime highs year-round average above freezing, rendering snowpacks unstable and unreliable.

Demographics

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Wrightwood had a population of 4,720. The population density was . The racial makeup of Wrightwood was 80.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.6%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.0% Native American, 2.0% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 4.5% from other races, and 11.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.8% of the population. The whole population lived in households. There were 1,984 households, out of which 25.8% included children under the age of 18, 51.9% were married-couple households, 6.6% were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 21.5% had a female householder with no partner present, and 20.1% had a male householder with no partner present. 27.8% of households were one person, and 13.8% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.38. There were 1,322

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(66.6% of all households). The age distribution was 21.6% under the age of 18, 6.5% aged 18 to 24, 22.7% aged 25 to 44, 28.8% aged 45 to 64, and 20.4% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 44.5years. For every 100 females, there were 100.3 males. There were 2,664 housing units at an average density of , of which 1,984 (74.5%) were occupied. Of these, 78.9% were owner-occupied, and 21.1% were occupied by renters.

2023 estimates

In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $78,496, and the

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

was $52,949. About 8.2% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line.

Politics

In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

, Wrightwood is in , and in . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, Wrightwood is in . Parks and wastewater in Wrightwood are maintained by the Wrightwood community service district since 2017.

Education

Public education in Wrightwood is managed by Snowline Joint Unified School District.
Text list
/ref> Students in Wrightwood attend the following schools: TK-5 Wrightwood Elementary School 6-8 Pinon Mesa Middle School 9-12 Serrano High School TK-12 Snowline Academy Homeschool TK-8 The Heritage School (Parent School of Choice) Snowline Adult School

Mountain High Resort

Just west from Wrightwood sits Big Pines, which hosts the Mountain High Resort, a popular ski/snowboard resort consisting of Three Mountains.

Notable people

* Earl W. Bascom (1906–1995), rodeo champion, actor, inventor, artist; was a school teacher in Wrightwood * Frank Bogert (1910–2009), rodeo professional, actor, mayor of Palm Springs; raised in Wrightwood * Caleb Calvert (born 1996), soccer player *

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

(1894–1963), author; lived in Wrightwood for several years * Geoffrey Lewis (1935–2015), actor; spent much of his youth in Wrightwood * Maddie Mastro (born 2000), snowboarder and Olympian

References

External links

Official Wrightwood Chamber of CommerceWrightwood's Information WebsiteWrightwood's Community WebsiteWrightwood's Community Real Estate Companies
{{authority control Census-designated places in San Bernardino County, California San Gabriel Mountains Hill and mountain resorts Ski areas and resorts in California Unincorporated communities in San Bernardino County, California Tourist attractions in San Bernardino County, California Populated places established in the 1920s 1920s establishments in California Census-designated places in California Unincorporated communities in California