Around 4,000 people died as a direct result of the earthquake and resulting fire that burned the city for the following three days.The fire that eventually burned the city to the ground could not be stopped because the water system had been built with no regard to potential earthquakes. The earthquake and fire had other impacts as well. Environmentally, west coast forests including local redwood forests were depleted and thousands of draft horses were literally worked to death to rebuild the city.

Chinese residents were impacted; both negatively and positively, more than any other group. The fire consumed Chinatown more quickly than it would have when city leaders dynamited its buildings to protect the wealthy Nob Hill. Despite this, the Chinese were also able to benefit from the disaster. By the 1880s, white hostility towards the Chinese became so great on the west coast that Congress passed the 1882, 1892, and 1902 Chinese Exclusion Acts, barring the entry of Chinese laborers to the United States. Fortuitously for the Chinese, the fire destroyed all immigration records in the city. This enabled Chinese to claim citizenship, a practice seldom used before 1906. By claiming citizenship, Chinese men were able to bring family members, particularly children, from China to the United States.