Brayton, Iowa
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Exira Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50042. It stands on Sifford Creek. The Survey maps it on the Exira West quadrangle. 143 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,207 feet above sea level.
On record in Brayton
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 1 record
- Andrew P. Hansen Farmsteadlisted 1991
Population over time
2 figuresBrayton grew from 128 to 143 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 | 128 | |
| 2020 | 143 | +15 (+12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 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 Omaha quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Audubon quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Exira West quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Guthrie Center quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Guthrie Center quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
4 since 2012Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Brayton between 2012 and 2017, burning about 168 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 14 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 April 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 March 2017 | Debris and open burning | 60 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Brayton: 2 past producers, 1 producer, 1 unknown. 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Brayton Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Brayton Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Valley Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
18 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brayton in 18 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 12 hail, 3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2021 | Tornado (EF1) | Brayton | $75,000 | Tornado moved into Audubon county from Cass county. This tornado remained on the ground in rural areas of southeastern Audubon county. Damage was primarily to trees with one garage being destroyed east of Exira producing an EF1 rating. |
| December 2021 | Tornado (EF1) | Brayton | $50,000 | This tornado continued into Audubon county from Cass county. The tornado remains in rural portions of southern and central Audubon county. Most damage was to farm outbuildings, trees and power poles with EF1 the highest damage rating observed. |
| August 2002 | Flash Flood | Brayton | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Tornado (EF0) | Brayton | $10,000 | The tornado developed southeast of Brayton and moved northeast in rural southern Audubon County. The bulk of the damage done was to trees. There was also a TDS associated with this tornado on the radar. The tornado dissipated a few miles east of Exira. |
| May 1998 | Hail | Brayton | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Brayton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brayton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Brayton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Brayton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Brayton | $1,000 | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Brayton | $1,000 | no account filed |
| March 2025 | Hail | Brayton | - | Relayed by who-tv. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brayton | - | Several trees damaged with pine tree trunks snapped. Time of occurrence estimated from radar. |
| April 2008 | Hail | Brayton | - | Dime to penny size hail was covering the ground. |
| June 2014 | Hail | Brayton | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Brayton | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Brayton | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Brayton | - | 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 Brayton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1934160 | 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 454809. 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.






