Mackay, Idaho
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Mackay census division. It lies in ZIP code area 83251. It lies near Rio Grande Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Mackay quadrangle. 439 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,906 feet above sea level.
On record in Mackay
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
Mackay Episcopal Churchlisted 1982- Mackay Methodist Episcopal Churchlisted 1984
Population over time
2 figuresMackay fell from 517 to 439 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 | 517 | |
| 2020 | 439 | -78 (-15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 14 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.
- 1935 USGS MacKay quadrangle1:96000
- 1940 USGS Mackay quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Idaho Falls quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1958 USGS Idaho Falls quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Mackay quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1988 USGS Arco quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Mackay quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
11 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Mackay between 1993 and 2015, burning about 121 acres in total. 5 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 | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 2002 | Other causes | 73 acres | Twin Falls District | CLIFF |
| 15 August 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Idaho Falls District | MACKAY RES |
| 4 July 2013 | Natural | 40 acres | Salmon-Challis National Forest | CLIFF |
| 4 July 2007 | Fireworks | under an acre | Twin Falls District | MACKEY |
| 31 July 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Salmon-Challis National Forest | CLIFF |
| 31 July 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1.5 acres | Salmon-Challis National Forest | ANDERSON |
| 30 July 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Salmon-Challis National Forest | not named |
| 22 July 2015 | Natural | 5.0 acres | Twin Falls District | MINE HILL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 25 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 25 workings within 5 miles of Mackay: 11 past producers, 7 prospects, 3 producers, 2 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Lead, Silver, Copper, Copper, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Daisy Mine | Silver, Lead, Gold, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Champion Group | Lead, Silver, Copper, Zinc, Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Champion Mine | Copper, Lead, Gold, Zinc, Silver | Producer | 1895 | |
| Doughboy Mine | Lead, Silver, Zinc, Gold, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Easlie Group Mine | Lead, Silver | Past Producer | Galena | |
| Empire Mine | Gold, Copper, Silver, Zinc, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Lead | Past Producer | 1884, 1902 | |
| Grand Prize Mine | Lead, Silver, Gold, Copper | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Granite Group | Iron, Silver, Copper, Gold | Producer | Hematite | |
| Horseshoe Mine | Copper, Silver, Lead, Gold, Zinc | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Malachite, Marmatite, Sphalerite | |
| Houston Clay Occurrence | Clay | Occurrence | Surface |
Storms near this place
9 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mackay in 9 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 4 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 tornado. 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 2023 | Flood | Mackay | $20,000 | Forest Service road 135 washed away near the intersection of Bear Creek and Antelope Pass Roads. Rainfall combined with snow melt continued to create flooding in the Salmon Challis National Forest. |
| June 2018 | Flood | Mackay | $10,000 | The Big Lost Wood River flooded at Leslie on Highway 93. Two homes were affected at the foundation with flooding. They were upstream of the Highway 93 bridge over the Big Lost River. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mackay | $2,000 | A large tree was blown down on a house with minor roof damage southeast of Mackay. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mackay | $1,000 | Power lines downed by thunderstorm winds just north of Mackay closing roads. |
| August 2014 | Tornado (EF0) | Mackay | - | Multiple photographs of funnel cloud with a brief touch down 2 miles southeast of Mackay. |
| July 2007 | Hail | Mackay | - | One inch hail fell four miles east southeast of Mackay. |
| August 2024 | Hail | Mackay | - | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Hail | Mackay | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Hail | Mackay | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | 2.9 miles | 14 | |
| White Knob (historical) | 3.4 miles | 14 | |
| Cliff (historical) | 4.4 miles | 14 | |
| Rothas | 4.5 miles | 14 | |
| Alder City (historical) | 5.7 miles | 14 | |
| Leslie | 8.4 miles | 10 | |
| Grouse | 15.6 miles | 12 | |
| Lost River | 15.7 miles | 12 |
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 Mackay | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1515321 | 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 397886. 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.






