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.
Population over time
2 figuresVance 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,529 | |
| 2020 | 2,092 | +563 (+37%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 19 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.
- 1899 USGS Brookwood quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1934 USGS Blocton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1934 USGS Blocton quadrangle1:48000
- 1940 USGS Blocton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Woodstock quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Tuscaloosa quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
107 since 1994Regional 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 burning | 34 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 31 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 13 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Natural | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 8.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 17 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 September 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160914-7 |
| 12 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | NWR-20130912-002 |
| 1 September 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 31 August 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 23 August 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 20 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 23 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Sandy Area | Iron, Calcium, Aluminum, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free | Past Producer | 1900, 1903 | |
| Big Sandy No. 1 Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Bucksville Area Prospect | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Gulf States Paper Corp Prospect | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Hayes | Iron | Unknown | ||
| No Name | Iron | Past Producer | Hematite | |
| Pinckard | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Sloss | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Talford | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Townsend | Iron | Unknown |
Storms near this place
20 since 1994Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Lightning | Vance | 2 hurt | A 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 2006 | Lightning | Vance | 1 hurt | A 20 year old male was struck by lightning in the Lake View Community. The injuries were not life threatening. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vance | $8,000 | Multiple trees were blown down throughout the area including one on a mobile home. |
| October 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vance | $3,000 | Several trees down along Bama Rock Garden Road and Highway 11. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vance | $1,000 | Trees were blown down in Vance. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vance | - | Trees were downed in the Vance area. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vance | - | Several trees were downed in the Vance area. |
| December 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vance | - | A few trees were downed near Vance. |
| October 2010 | Hail | Vance | - | Half dollar size hail reported in Vance. |
| October 2010 | Hail | Vance | - | Golf ball size hail at the Mercedes plant. |
| February 2009 | Hail | Vance | - | Reported on Interstate 20, near the Mercedes plant. |
| August 2005 | Hail | Vance | - | Quarter size hail was reported in the city of Vance. |
| April 2004 | Hail | Vance | - | Penny size hail was reported near Vance. The hail briefly covered the ground. |
| August 2000 | Hail | Vance | - | Dime size hail fell near the city of Vance. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Vance | - | Nickel size hail was reported in Hagler, in the southeast part of the county. |
| March 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vance | - | Trees and power lines were downed on Highway 5 in Tuscaloosa County near the Bibb County line. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Vance | - | no account filed |
| April 2010 | Hail | Vance | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Vance | - | no account filed |
| February 2004 | Hail | Vance | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dowdle | 1.3 miles | 19 | |
| Dudley | 3.6 miles | 19 | |
| Cedar Cove | 4.7 miles | 19 | |
| Docray | 5.0 miles | 19 | |
| Coaling | 5.8 miles | 19 | |
| Chambers | 6.1 miles | 19 | |
| Chamblee | 6.5 miles | 19 | |
| Caffee Junction | 7.1 miles | 19 |
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 Vance | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q985481 | 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 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.








