QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0ml

Earthquake near Huntington Beach, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Huntington Beach in the 24 hours to 3:51 pm PST (23:51 UTC). The last one was M 3.2, 22 km (14 mi) NW, at 12:44 am PDT on 9 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 1,090 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Huntington Beach

This page: a magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 7 km (4 mi) northwest of Huntington Beach, CA, at 4:55 pm PDT on 15 May 2025 (23:55 UTC), 16 km deep.

USGS: 6 km W of Huntington Beach, CA

5 km (3 mi) W of Huntington Beach, CA · 49 km (30 mi) SE of Los Angeles, CA

4:55 pm PDT, May 15, 2025 · · 16 km deep · released about 26 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Huntington Beach Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 26 kmLos Angeles County 59 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
4:55 pm PDT on 15 May 2025 ()
Where
7 km (4 mi) northwest of Huntington Beach, CA · earthquakes near Huntington Beach
Magnitude
M 2.0 (ml)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Orange County, 26 km E
Nearest mapped fault
Newport-Inglewood-Rose Canyon fault, 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 541 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Huntington Beach, 7 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Seal Beach, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Rossmoor, Los Alamitos, Stanton.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 26 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 580,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 410,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 36× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 26 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2020-09-19 — about 7,400 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 9 km SE of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 41 km N of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 5km S of Chino Hills, CA · 39 km NE of this epicentre
  4. 5.3 7km W of Newport Beach, CA · 10 km SE of this epicentre
  5. 5.2 2km WSW of Rosemead, CA · 42 km N of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 33.6948, -118.0593. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Orange County, CA 26 km (16 mi) E earthquakes near Orange County
Los Angeles County, CA 59 km (37 mi) NNW earthquakes near Los Angeles County
Ventura County, CA 123 km (77 mi) NW earthquakes near Ventura County
San Diego County, CA 141 km (87 mi) ESE earthquakes near San Diego County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

50 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.8 10 km SSE of Corona, CA
  2. 2.3 2 km SE of Yorba Linda, CA
  3. 1.5 9 km SW of Corona, CA
  4. 1.5 2 km SSW of Willowbrook, CA
  5. 1.9 2 km S of Willowbrook, CA
  6. 1.5 3 km WSW of La Habra, CA
  7. 1.9 8 km ENE of North Tustin, CA
  8. 2.3 2 km N of Baldwin Hills, CA
  9. 1.9 2 km ENE of Culver City, CA
  10. 1.6 3 km SE of Dana Point, CA
  11. 1.5 3 km SSE of Dana Point, CA
  12. 1.7 5 km NNW of Yorba Linda, CA
  13. 2.2 10 km WSW of Corona, CA
  14. 2.4 1 km NW of La Mirada, CA
  15. 1.9 8 km SW of Corona, CA

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.