Downey, Idaho
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the South Bannock census division. It lies in ZIP code area 83234. The Survey maps it on the Downey East quadrangle. 571 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,865 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresDowney fell from 625 to 571 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 | 625 | |
| 2020 | 571 | -54 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 10 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 Pocatello quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Pocatello quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1968 USGS Downey East quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Malad City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
12 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Downey between 1992 and 2020, burning about 787 acres in total. 6 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 108 acres | Bannock County | OLSON |
| 31 August 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 86 acres | Idaho Falls District | GRANT |
| 27 August 1997 | Debris and open burning | 60 acres | Idaho Falls District | FLAGS WEST |
| 24 August 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Idaho Falls District | CUNNINGHAM |
| 24 August 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Idaho Falls District | 9 MILE |
| 20 August 2001 | Natural | 3.0 acres | Idaho Falls District | 9 MILE |
| 20 August 1999 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Idaho Falls District | NINE MILE |
| 29 July 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 131 acres | Idaho Falls District | DOWNEY WEST |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 24 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 24 workings within 5 miles of Downey: 18 past producers, 3 producers, 2 occurrences, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Geothermal, Peat, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel Pit | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Jack R Parsons Construction Co. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Marsh Creek Peat Deposit | Peat | Producer | ||
| Bowen Ranch | Geothermal | Occurrence | ||
| Downata Hot Spring | Geothermal | Occurrence | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
8 since 2014Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Downey in 8 storm reports between 2014 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 hail, 1 dust devil. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Downey | $10,000 | A microburst on the evening of July 6th caused extensive damage at Downata Hot Springs near Downey. 10 large trees were either downed or had large branches removed. The largest water slide at the park was hit by a large branch and it knocked a hole in it. Other branches damaged pavilions, the chain link fence, and two RVs at the park. The Downata Hot Springs manager estimated $10,000 worth of damage. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Downey | $8,000 | Severe wind reports from Downey from channel 8 news in Idaho Fall. We got a report of high wind knocking over an 80 foot tall tree last night around 7 pm on N Cambridge Road near Downey. It crippled a pickup truck, crushed a tractor and ripped a power box off a man's home. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Downey | $1,000 | A large pine tree was blown down next to a vehicle in Downey reported on Facebook. |
| June 2025 | Funnel Cloud | Downey | - | A video of a funnel cloud near Downey received. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Downey | - | Thunderstorm winds knocked branches out of trees and ripped top rail off fence and blew deck furniture over in Grace. |
| July 2022 | Dust Devil | Downey | - | A large dust devil was video'd in Downey on July 29th and posted on facebook. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Downey | - | One inch hail reported by trained spotter near Downey. |
| August 2014 | Heavy Rain | Downey | - | Farmers and ranchers in Bannock County were declared by the USDA to qualify for natural disaster assistance due to crop damage from heavy August rains. Eastern Idaho barley crop damage was estimated at 64 million dollars with a portion of that in Bannock County. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge | 1.6 miles | 10 | |
| Downata Hot Springs | 3.3 miles | 10 | |
| Zenda | 4.9 miles | 10 | |
| Virginia | 5.0 miles | 10 | |
| Marsh Valley | 6.4 miles | 10 | |
| Red Rock Junction | 6.5 miles | 9 | |
| Arimo | 9.4 miles | 10 | |
| Swanlake | 10.2 miles | 9 |
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 Downey | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1518555 | 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 396415. 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.



