BlockBefore

Vance, Alabama

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Coaling-Vance census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35490. The Survey maps it on the Woodstock quadrangle. 2,092 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 509 feet above sea level.

Vance within Tuscaloosa County

Population over time

2 figures

Vance grew from 1,529 to 2,092 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,529
20202,092+563 (+37%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 19 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

107 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 107 fires within 5 miles of Vance between 1994 and 2020, burning about 1,116 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 31 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 burning34
Arson/incendiarism31
Recreation and ceremony13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Railroad operations and maintenance5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Smoking3
Equipment and vehicle use3
Natural3

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
27 September 1998Arson/incendiarism8.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
17 September 1998Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
16 September 2003Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
14 September 2016Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160914-7
12 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionNWR-20130912-002
1 September 2006Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
31 August 1999Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
23 August 2002Railroad operations and maintenance20 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tuscaloosa County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 23 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 23 workings within 5 miles of Vance: 11 unknowns, 7 occurrences, 5 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Calcium, Aluminum, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Big Sandy AreaIron, Calcium, Aluminum, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, FreePast Producer1900, 1903
Big Sandy No. 1 MineIronPast Producer
Bucksville Area ProspectIronOccurrence
Gulf States Paper Corp ProspectIronOccurrence
HayesIronUnknown
No NameIronPast ProducerHematite
PinckardIronUnknown
SlossIronUnknown
TalfordIronUnknown
TownsendIronUnknown

Every working recorded in Tuscaloosa County

Storms near this place

20 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Vance in 20 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 11 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning. The reports record 3 injuries. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2023LightningVance2 hurtA 13 year-old female and 15 year-old female were struck by lightning at a ballpark in Vance. Both females were underneath a tent next to a chain link fence. Both sustained minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital.
February 2006LightningVance1 hurtA 20 year old male was struck by lightning in the Lake View Community. The injuries were not life threatening.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindVance$8,000Multiple trees were blown down throughout the area including one on a mobile home.
October 2010Thunderstorm WindVance$3,000Several trees down along Bama Rock Garden Road and Highway 11.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindVance$1,000Trees were blown down in Vance.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindVance-Trees were downed in the Vance area.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindVance-Several trees were downed in the Vance area.
December 2024Thunderstorm WindVance-A few trees were downed near Vance.
October 2010HailVance-Half dollar size hail reported in Vance.
October 2010HailVance-Golf ball size hail at the Mercedes plant.
February 2009HailVance-Reported on Interstate 20, near the Mercedes plant.
August 2005HailVance-Quarter size hail was reported in the city of Vance.
April 2004HailVance-Penny size hail was reported near Vance. The hail briefly covered the ground.
August 2000HailVance-Dime size hail fell near the city of Vance.
April 1998HailVance-Nickel size hail was reported in Hagler, in the southeast part of the county.
March 1994Thunderstorm WindVance-Trees and power lines were downed on Highway 5 in Tuscaloosa County near the Bibb County line.
April 2017HailVance-no account filed
April 2010HailVance-no account filed
April 2008HailVance-no account filed
February 2004HailVance-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Tuscaloosa County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Dowdle1.3 miles19
Dudley3.6 miles19
Cedar Cove4.7 miles19
Docray5.0 miles19
Coaling5.8 miles19
Chambers6.1 miles19
Chamblee6.5 miles19
Caffee Junction7.1 miles19

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 VanceAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q985481The 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 158947. 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.