Tama, Iowa
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Tama Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52339. It stands on Deer Creek. The Survey maps it on the Tama quadrangle. 3,130 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 840 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Tama
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 2 records
Lincoln Highway Bridgelisted 1978- King Tower Historic Districtlisted 2020
Population over time
2 figuresTama grew from 2,877 to 3,130 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 | 2,877 | |
| 2020 | 3,130 | +253 (+9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 8 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 Des Moines quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Tama quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Grinnell quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
291 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 291 fires within 5 miles of Tama between 1993 and 2020, burning about 3,222 acres in total. None started naturally. 42 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 | 120 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 107 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 42 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2013 | Smoking | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 September 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Sac and Fox Agency | TRANSFORM |
| 15 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Sac and Fox Agency | DAVENPORT |
| 3 August 2019 | Fireworks | 3.0 acres | Sac and Fox Agency | 163 CIRCLE |
| 25 August 2011 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Sac and Fox Agency | LINCOLN |
| 2 August 2013 | Smoking | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 August 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Sac and Fox Agency | 1340 DOG |
| 5 July 2017 | Fireworks | under an acre | Sac and Fox Agency | 120 BATTLEGROUND |
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 Tama: 1 producer. All of them still produce. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manatt's Sand and Gravel, Inc. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
41 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tama in 41 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 26 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 tornado, 3 flood. The reports record 25 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | 25 hurt, $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $500,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $200,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flood | Tama | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Hail | Tama | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $25,000 | Widespread tree damage was reported. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $20,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $15,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $10,000 | A large tree branch was down on a power line at the Meskwaki Settlement. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $10,000 | Large 12 to 14 inch diameter tree down. Six inch diameter limbs down around town. |
| August 2009 | Flood | Tama | $10,000 | Highway E49 had water over the road near H Ave. |
| August 2009 | Flood | Tama | $10,000 | Flooding was reported near Battleground Rd and Meskwaki Road. |
| May 2003 | Hail | Tama | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $5,000 | Trees and power lines were down in Tama and Toledo. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Tama | $5,000 | no account filed |
| October 1998 | Hail | Tama | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Tama | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $2,000 | Wind speed was measured by a home weather station. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $1,000 | Report received from the Tama RWIS site. |
| July 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Tama | $1,000 | Tornado touched down briefly in an open area. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Tama | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Flash Flood | Tama | - | Water running over roads and vehicles stranded in flood waters across portions of the Meskwaki Nation Settlement including Battleground Rd near the PowWow Grounds, Meskwaki Rd at Battleground Rd and G Ave South. Reported by the Meskwaki Nation Police Department via social media. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | - | Trees reported down in Tama and Toledo. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tama | - | Media reported a tree down on the golf course and other smaller limbs down around town. |
| June 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Tama | - | Brief spinup tornado |
| July 2023 | Hail | Tama | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Tama | - | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Tama | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toledo | 2.0 miles | 8 | |
| Mesquakie Indian Settlement | 3.7 miles | 8 | |
| Gladstone | 4.2 miles | 8 | |
| Long Point | 5.1 miles | 8 | |
| Potter | 5.2 miles | 8 | |
| Helena | 6.3 miles | 8 | |
| Haven | 7.3 miles | 8 | |
| Montour | 7.4 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 Tama | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1925254 | 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 462174. 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.





