Sanford, Alabama
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Andalusia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36420. The Survey maps it on the Andalusia quadrangle. 257 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 289 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresSanford fell from 742 to 257 between 1910 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1910 | 742 | |
| 2010 | 241 | |
| 2020 | 257 | +16 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 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.
- 1953 USGS Andalusia quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Andalusia quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Andalusia quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Andalusia quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
78 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 78 fires within 5 miles of Sanford between 1994 and 2019, burning about 531 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 20 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 | 23 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 20 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 16 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | SER-20150908-001 |
| 30 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 23 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190923-8 |
| 21 September 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 4.2 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 20 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190920-12 |
| 19 September 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 24 August 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 31 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 31 workings within 5 miles of Sanford: 21 unknowns, 9 occurrences, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Storms near this place
4 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sanford in 4 storm reports between 2002 and 2023: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanford | - | High winds downed trees on Highway 84. |
| January 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanford | - | Measured by site K79J. |
| April 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sanford | - | A vehicle struck a downed tree on Lindsey Bridge Road. No injuries reported. |
| March 2002 | Hail | Sanford | - | Golfball size hail was reported along U. S. Highway 84 just north of Sanford. No damage was reported. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wiggins | 3.4 miles | 8 | |
| Babbie | 3.6 miles | 8 | |
| Harmony | 4.2 miles | 8 | |
| Cedar Grove | 4.9 miles | 8 | |
| Andalusia | 5.0 miles | 8 | |
| Horn Hill | 5.3 miles | 7 | |
| Libertyville | 5.5 miles | 7 | |
| Opine | 5.8 miles | 8 |
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 Sanford | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q66866 | 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 126387. 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.



