Leland, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Forest Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50453. The Survey maps it on the Forest City quadrangle. 249 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,220 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresLeland fell from 289 to 249 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 | 289 | |
| 2020 | 249 | -40 (-14%) |
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.
- 1954 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Forest City quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
3 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Leland between 2006 and 2015, burning about 12 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 April 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 April 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 December 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 13651 HWY 69, IA |
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 Leland: 3 past producers, 1 unknown. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leland Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
17 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Leland in 17 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 6 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leland | $100,000 | Several power lines and trees down throughout town. Leland without electricity. |
| July 2013 | Flood | Leland | $25,000 | A sink hole developed near 190th and 420th due to heavy rain. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leland | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Leland | $20,000 | Trained spotter reported up to 2.5 inch diameter hail. |
| June 2018 | Hail | Leland | $20,000 | Public reported up to 2 inch diameter hail. |
| June 2008 | Flash Flood | Leland | $20,000 | Water was reported over the road near 180th and 370th streets. |
| June 2018 | Tornado (EF1) | Leland | $15,000 | A weak tornado developed northeast of Forest City staying in rural areas. The tornado was captured on video from several different angles. While the condensation funnel did not extend to the ground for much of its path, video clear shows debris and dust being picked up by the surface circulation. The tornado snapped power transmission poles along with damage to crops as it remained over agricultural land for the duration of its path. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leland | $10,000 | County dispatch reported multiple trees down and power line damage in town. This is delayed report and time estimated from radar. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leland | $10,000 | Emergency Manager reported trees and power lines down. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Leland | $5,000 | A few stones to the size of ping pong balls. Most were smaller. |
| August 1994 | Hail | Leland | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leland | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Hail | Leland | - | Delayed report of golf ball sized hail in Leland. |
| September 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Leland | - | Delayed report. Video of a brief funnel cloud near Leland. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Leland | - | Farm implement garage destroyed. Report via KIMT tv. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Leland | - | Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail ongoing at the time of the report. |
| September 2016 | Heavy Rain | Leland | - | Public reported storm total heavy rainfall of 3.03 inches. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ratna (historical) | 4.3 miles | 8 | |
| Forest City | 5.2 miles | 7 | |
| Thompson | 7.7 miles | 7 | |
| Lake Mills | 7.8 miles | 7 | |
| Scarville | 9.2 miles | 7 | |
| Vinje | 9.6 miles | 7 | |
| Amund (historical) | 12.6 miles | 7 | |
| Norman (historical) | 12.9 miles | 7 |
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 Leland | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1914012 | 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 458286. 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.




