Archer, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Carroll Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51231. The Survey maps it on the Primghar quadrangle. 117 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,470 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresArcher fell from 131 to 117 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 | 131 | |
| 2020 | 117 | -14 (-11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 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.
- 1954 USGS Fairmont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Fairmont quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Primghar quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Iowa Great Lakes quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Archer: 6 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appleton Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Douma Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Merley | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sanborn | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
18 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Archer in 18 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 9 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | $300,000 | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Tornado (EFU) | Archer | - | An eyewitness observed a tornado develop 2 miles northeast of Archer south of 350th Street in an open field. The tornado tracked northwest slowly over the next five minutes through open fields. After crossing Pierce Avenue, the tornado dissipated. There was no known damage, resulting in an EFU rating. The location, track, and a maximum path width of 25 yards was estimated from video. |
| August 2018 | Hail | Archer | - | Reported through social media. |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | - | Measured wind gust by the Archer Fire Department. Heavy rainfall also reported. |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Archer | - | Heavy rainfall from 3 to 6 inches fell in the Little Floyd river basin in two to three hours, with 5.90 near Sanborn. Flash flooding resulted along the Little Floyd River, including a couple feet of water crossing Oak Hill Avenue south of 330th St. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including some large branches and limbs blown down. |
| October 2002 | Hail | Archer | - | Large hail fell in a strip roughly five miles wide from west to east across the center part of the county. Widespread damage to corn and soybean crops occurred in the affected area. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | - | no account filed |
| October 2002 | Hail | Archer | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Archer | - | 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 Archer | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1913764 | 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 465637. 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.
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.



