The short-range geodetic data from northern Baja California, Mexico, for the period 1974-1982 are carefully analyzed. These data contribute to an understanding of the complex pattern of faulting associated with the Pacific-North American plate boundary in this region. Survey precisions are evaluated and significant systematic errors are found to exist. A technique of studying a scale-free displacement solution is developed as an aid to interpreting the data. We conclude that (1) the motion on the San Miguel-Vallecitos fault system is presently in a right-lateral sense and at a level that warrants trilateration surveys at least annually, (2) present geodetic data permit no statement about movement on the Agua Blanca fault, and (3) the mesa, whose flank delineates the Cerro Prieto fault in the Valle de Mexicali, lies in a zone which has undergone significant horizontal areal compression, at a rate of 14¿5 ppm/yr, in addition to a right-lateral tensor shear at a rate of 4¿1 ppm/yr, oriented N(33¿¿9¿)W, between 1980 and 1982.