West Jefferson, Alabama
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the West Jefferson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35130. It stands on Falls Creek. The Survey maps it on the Dora quadrangle. 417 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 410 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWest Jefferson grew from 338 to 417 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 | 338 | |
| 2020 | 417 | +79 (+23%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 24 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.
- 1893 USGS Jasper quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1935 USGS Port Birmingham quadrangle1:48000
- 1938 USGS Port Birmingham quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1953 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Dora quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1975 USGS Dora quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Jasper quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
333 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 333 fires within 5 miles of West Jefferson between 1994 and 2019, burning about 5,145 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 148 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 148 |
| Debris and open burning | 122 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 10 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
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 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160909-12 |
| 8 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 8 September 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.5 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 21 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
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 West Jefferson: 2 occurrences, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Aluminum, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jef 2 Clay Prospect | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Waste Pond - Bessie Mine | Aluminum | Occurrence | Illite, Kaolinite | |
| Waste Pond - Flat Top Mine | Aluminum | Occurrence | Illite, Kaolinite |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside Estates | 0.5 miles | 24 | |
| Palos | 1.3 miles | 24 | |
| Flat Creek | 1.3 miles | 24 | |
| Media | 1.8 miles | 24 | |
| Snowtown | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| Bessie | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| Bessie Junction | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| Porter | 1.9 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 West Jefferson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q65735 | 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 128785. 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.








