Cayucos, CA Coastal Erosion Rate
Is the coast eroding right at Cayucos, CA?
The coast right at Cayucos, CA shows no statistically significant trend either way. USGS's transects measured a rate here, but it's smaller than the survey's own margin of error for this stretch, so calling it "eroding" or "growing" would overstate what the data actually shows.
What "Cayucos" means on this page
Nothing here is parcel-level. USGS's raw transects run every few hundred feet along the shore; this page averages the ones nearest Cayucos, CA into one ~3.5-mile reading rather than picking a single arbitrary line to represent the area. Centered near 35.44°N, 120.89°W. Survey years: 1852-2016, method LRR, from USGS's California shoreline-change assessment. That's how current the data is here, real, but not a live feed, since a shoreline survey is a major undertaking, not an annual check-in.
What backs this reading up
Averaging 73 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 82% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.31 ft/yr. Taken at face value, this segment's raw -0.31 ft/yr reading would land it 402 of 1211 nationally - a number worth ignoring, since it's statistical noise rather than a real trend. Source: USGS National Shoreline Change data release (ScienceBase, DOI 10.5066/P94J0K7Z), Kratzmann 2024 / Data Report 1187. Rank 1171 nationally for growth belongs to Avalon, NJ, 2524 miles from this stretch, measured at 2.37 ft/yr. Cayucos, CA, 1.5 miles off, is the adjacent measured stretch, itself no significant trend.
Cayucos, CA on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.