Lake Butler, Florida
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Lake Butler census division. It lies in ZIP code area 32054. The Survey maps it on the Lake Butler quadrangle. 1,986 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 135 feet above sea level.
Research this city
Then and now
1954 to 1981The same ground, surveyed 27 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Lake Butler
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 4 records
John A. King Houselisted 2004
Lake Butler Woman's Clublisted 2003
Townsend Buildinglisted 1992
James W. Townsend Houselisted 1996
Population over time
2 figuresLake Butler grew from 1,897 to 1,986 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 | 1,897 | |
| 2020 | 1,986 | +89 (+5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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.
- 1954 USGS Valdosta quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Valdosta quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Valdosta quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Lake Butler quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1981 USGS Lake City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
166 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 166 fires within 5 miles of Lake Butler between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,865 acres in total. 36 started naturally. 9 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 36 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 30 |
| Debris and open burning | 29 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 26 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 9 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 2.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 4 September 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | 186TH PLACE (63) |
| 29 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 26 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 16 September 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | SR 100 (63) |
| 16 September 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 9 August 2006 | Natural | 7.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | 03-63- 237 FIRE -1250 |
| 6 August 2007 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | 03-63-SINCLAIR BRYANT RD FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
37 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake Butler in 37 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 22 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 4 heavy rain, 2 wildfire. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $8,000 | Large trees and power lines were blown down. One vehicle was also damaged. |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $6,000 | Roof damage to home and numerous large trees were blown down. |
| January 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $5,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds blew the roof off a house and downed trees and power lines. |
| November 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $4,000 | Large tree limbs were blown down on 1st Street. |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $3,500 | no account filed |
| September 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $2,500 | Large trees and power lines were blown down. |
| January 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $2,500 | Large trees and power lines were blown down. |
| February 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $2,000 | Large trees down near state road 121 and county road 231. |
| March 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $2,000 | Large trees and power lines were blown down. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $1,000 | Multiple trees were reported down across SW SR 121 especially at the intersections of SW 76th St and SW 92nd St. Powerlines were reported down in Lake Butler and a power pole was leaning along SW 7th St. EM reported a gust of 42 mph. Time was estimated by radar. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $1,000 | Large trees and power lines were blown down. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $500 | A tree was blown down across SW 92nd Street. The time of damage was based on radar. The cost of damage was estimated. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $300 | Large tree limbs were blown down. |
| April 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | $100 | Large trees down on Lake Ave. and also on 3rd Ave. |
| March 2021 | Heavy Rain | Lake Butler | - | A stationed at the Union County EOC measured 2.48 inches since midnight. |
| March 2021 | Heavy Rain | Lake Butler | - | A station measured 4.29 inches since midnight. |
| December 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | - | A tree branched punctured a home wall in Lake Butler due to strong winds. No injuries were reported. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | - | Numerous tree were blown down across the local area per a report from a Circle K gas station employee. |
| July 2019 | Heavy Rain | Lake Butler | - | Daily storm total rainfall thus far for the day was 2.25 inches. |
| February 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | - | Multiple trees and power lines were blown down. |
| August 2016 | Heavy Rain | Lake Butler | - | Minor street flooding was reported of SW 9th Street in Lake Butler near the Union County High School. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | - | Power lines were blown down on SW 8th Street. |
| August 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | - | Trees were blown down along SW 73rd way. The time of damage was based on radar. |
| September 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | - | County central dispatch reported a tree down at NW 2nd Street in Lake Butler. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | - | Trees and power lines were blown down in Lake Butler. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Butler | - | Power lines were blown west of and near Lake Butler. |
| May 2003 | Lightning | Lake Butler | - | Mobile home set on fire by lightning strike. |
| April 1999 | Wildfire | Lake Butler | - | Reports that two fires caused by lightning strikes. |
| July 1998 | Wildfire | Lake Butler | - | 13,000 acres. |
| February 2006 | Hail | Lake Butler | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Funnel Cloud | Lake Butler | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Lake Butler | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Lake Butler | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Lake Butler | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Funnel Cloud | Lake Butler | - | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Hail | Lake Butler | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Lake Butler | - | 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.
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 Lake Butler | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2381270 | 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 285222. 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.
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.




