Chelsea, Alabama
23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Chelsea census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35043. It stands on Double Mountain Branch. The Survey maps it on the Chelsea quadrangle. 14,982 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 512 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresChelsea grew from 10,183 to 14,982 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 10,183 | |
| 2020 | 14,982 | +4,799 (+47%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 23 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1890 USGS Bessemer quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Bessemer quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1906 USGS Vandiver quadrangle1:62500
- 1908 USGS Vandiver quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Chelsea quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
- 1975 USGS Chelsea quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Birmingham South quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
177 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 177 fires within 5 miles of Chelsea between 1994 and 2020, burning about 3,206 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 57 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 59 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 57 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 14 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190909-6 |
| 8 September 1999 | Natural | 220 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 7.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 16 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20200930-1 |
| 30 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160930-6 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Chelsea: 2 past producers, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Perlite, Vermiculite, Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irondale Plant | Vermiculite | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| W. R. Grace Irondale Plant | Perlite | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
19 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chelsea in 19 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 9 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $380,000 | no account filed |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $8,000 | A few traffic lights were blown down in Inverness. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $8,000 | Several trees and power lines were knocked down in Chelsea on CR 47 and on CR 39. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Chelsea | $5,000 | Golf ball size hail was reported by an off duty weather service employee. |
| April 2000 | Hail | Chelsea | $4,000 | Golfball size hail was reported in the Highland Lakes subdivision off US 280 near Chelsea. The hail was observed as rather soft but large. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $3,000 | A few trees were blown down on Inverness Parkway, in the Inverness Community. |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $3,000 | Large trees and power lines were blown down near the intersection of SR 25 and CR 55. |
| July 2005 | Flash Flood | Chelsea | $2,000 | Parts of US Highway 280 were flooded in and near Chelsea. The roads were temporarily impassable. A few trees also fell down near Chelsea due to the saturated ground conditions. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $2,000 | Former NWS Employee reported 60 mile an hour winds and trees blown down in the Greystone Area. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Chelsea | $2,000 | Hail the size of quarters was reported along US 280 near Greystone. |
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | $200 | Approximately 150 trees were blown down at the Greystone Country Club in northern Shelby County. Large trees were blown down in the Chelsea area of Shelby County. |
| August 2023 | Hail | Chelsea | - | Quarter size hail reported in Chelsea. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | - | Several trees uprooted and power lines downed in the city of Chelsea. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chelsea | - | Several trees uprooted in the city of Chelsea. |
| May 1999 | Hail | Chelsea | - | Quarter size hail was reported just east of US 280 between SR 119 and Interstate 459. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Chelsea | - | Dime to nickel size hail was reported at Inverness on US 280. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Chelsea | - | Dime size hail was reported in Inverness. |
| May 1998 | Hail | Chelsea | - | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Hail | Chelsea | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellowleaf Creek Estates | 3.0 miles | 20 | |
| Watkins | 3.4 miles | 23 | |
| East Saginaw | 4.0 miles | 23 | |
| Simmsville | 4.3 miles | 23 | |
| Eagle Point | 4.4 miles | 22 | |
| Heritage Oaks | 5.0 miles | 22 | |
| Westover | 5.0 miles | 20 | |
| Little Ridge Estates | 5.2 miles | 22 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Chelsea | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q67410 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 115991. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.









