1900History
A post office operated at Schmidtville from 1900 to 1901.
1906Disaster
El Cerrito was founded by refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
1909Architecture
A post office opened at the settlement in 1909 and the refugee camp became known as Rust, after Wilhelm F.
1916History
The village's residents did not care for the name and changed it to El Cerrito (meaning "little hill" or "knoll") in 1916, in reference to nearby Albany Hill.
1917Government
It was incorporated in 1917 as a village with 1,500 residents.
1920History
The 1920 census shows that the Schmidtville community had many Italian immigrants.
1959History
Creedence Clearwater Revival was formed in El Cerrito in 1959.
1988History
Game Theory's 1988 song "You Drive" mentions El Cerrito in the first line.
2014History
Cracker recorded a song titled "El Cerrito" released on their 2014 album Berkeley to Bakersfield.
2018Government
The city is organized as a Council-Manager form of local municipal government, and its City Charter was adopted by the voters in November 2018.
2022History
As of the census in 2022, there were 25,583 people and 10,637 households in the city.
2023History
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated the median household income was $127,475, and the per capita income was $72,937.