Wesley, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Wesley Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50483. The Survey maps it on the Wesley quadrangle. 391 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,250 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWesley grew from 390 to 391 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 | 390 | |
| 2020 | 391 | +1 (+0%) |
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 Wesley quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
5 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Wesley between 2006 and 2011, burning about 56 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 | 5 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 April 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 2331 210TH AVE, IA |
| 28 March 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 2525 210TH AVENUE, IOWA |
| 19 March 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 December 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 1975 220TH AVE, IOWA |
| 26 January 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
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 Wesley: 3 unknowns, 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hutchins Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sankey Pit and Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
16 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wesley in 16 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 10 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 2 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 2008 | Flash Flood | Wesley | $50,000 | Extensive flooding reported in Wesley, blocking access to the area. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wesley | $20,000 | Winds were estimated at 70 to 80 MPH. |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wesley | $20,000 | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Hail | Wesley | $10,000 | Trained spotter reported tennis ball sized hail. |
| August 2018 | Hail | Wesley | $5,000 | Public reported quarter to golf ball sized hail. |
| July 2006 | Hail | Wesley | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Hail | Wesley | - | Nickel size hail near Wesley. |
| May 2024 | Flood | Wesley | - | Several blocks of flooded roads and homes in Wesley. |
| May 2024 | Flash Flood | Wesley | - | Significant flash flooding beginning in Wesley. |
| May 2024 | Flood | Wesley | - | Several roads, homes, and buildings flooded. Many roads closed. |
| March 2023 | Hail | Wesley | - | Spotter said hail was slightly larger than quarters. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Wesley | - | A public report of 2 inch hail. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Wesley | - | A trained spotter reported quarter sized hail. |
| March 2023 | Hail | Wesley | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Wesley | - | no account filed |
| September 1999 | Hail | Wesley | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Benedict | 5.2 miles | 7 | |
| Sexton | 5.3 miles | 7 | |
| Hanna | 9.7 miles | 8 | |
| Titonka | 10.6 miles | 7 | |
| Galbraith | 11.6 miles | 8 | |
| Irvington | 12.2 miles | 8 | |
| German Valley | 12.7 miles | 7 | |
| Algona | 12.9 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 Wesley | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q520325 | 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 462798. 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.




