Ideal, Georgia
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Ideal census division. It lies in ZIP code area 31041. It stands on Sand Creek. The Survey maps it on the Ideal South quadrangle. 407 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 482 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresIdeal fell from 518 to 407 between 2000 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 518 | |
| 2010 | 499 | -19 (-4%) |
| 2020 | 407 | -92 (-18%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1955 USGS Phenix City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Phenix City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Phenix City quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Ideal South quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS Americus quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
192 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 192 fires within 5 miles of Ideal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 838 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 24 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 | 100 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 25 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 24 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 12 |
| Natural | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 30 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2017-MACON-006 |
| 8 September 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | 3.2 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2011-MACON-002 |
| 7 September 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2012-MACON-005 |
| 4 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1.4 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 28 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Ideal: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Aluminum. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Outcrop | Aluminum | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
14 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ideal in 14 storm reports between 1997 and 2026: 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 flood, 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ideal | $10,000 | Emergency manager reports numerous trees downed in an around the town of Ideal. |
| February 2019 | Tornado (EF0) | Ideal | $10,000 | A National Weather Service survey team found that an EF0 tornado with maximum winds of 75 mph and a maximum path width of 200 yards occurred in western Macon County. The tornado touched down on the southwest side of the town of Ideal on Brooks Road travelling east along the road snapping or uprooting several trees along the road before lifting around Tom Watson Avenue. A small shed had most if its tin walls and roof removed and tossed nearly 200 yards away. No injuries were reported. [02/12/19: Tornado #4, County #1/1, EF-0, Macon, 2019:004]. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ideal | $8,000 | The Macon County 911 center reported multiple trees blown down across the county from around Ideal along Highway 90 north of town and Highway 240 south of town to north of Oglethorpe along Highway 128. |
| September 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ideal | $5,000 | Reports from the Macon county sheriff's office and newspaper accounts indicated trees were downed in the west part of Macon county. A car was reported damaged by a falling tree. |
| December 2009 | Flood | Ideal | $3,000 | The Macon County Emergency Management Director reported minor flooding of some roads and property across the county, mostly adjacent to overflowing creeks and streams. Monetary damage was confined to minor debris removal in these areas. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ideal | $2,000 | The Macon County 911 center reported multiple trees blown down just north of Ideal. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ideal | $2,000 | The Macon County 911 Center reported that at least 10 trees were down across the county. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ideal | $2,000 | The Macon County 911 center reported that a number of trees had been blown down. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ideal | $1,000 | One tree was reported down on Hoke Smith Avenue in Ideal. |
| November 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ideal | $500 | Macon county 911 reported two trees were knocked down on power lines. |
| April 2006 | Hail | Ideal | - | The regional 911 center for Macon county relayed a report of nickel-sized hail or larger. |
| April 2005 | Hail | Ideal | - | The Macon County 911 Center reported penny-sized hail. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Ideal | - | The Macon county sheriff's office reported 1 inch hail. |
| April 1998 | Hail | Ideal | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bartlett | 4.5 miles | 8 | |
| Garden Valley | 6.1 miles | 8 | |
| Fountainville | 6.2 miles | 7 | |
| Oglethorpe | 8.5 miles | 8 | |
| Hicks | 9.2 miles | 8 | |
| Cutoff | 9.6 miles | 8 | |
| Montezuma | 9.6 miles | 8 | |
| Barrons Lane | 10.2 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 Ideal | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2535821 | 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 356328. 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.




