Gem, Kansas
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Lacey Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67734. The Survey maps it on the Gem quadrangle. 98 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,094 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGem grew from 88 to 98 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 | 88 | |
| 2020 | 98 | +10 (+11%) |
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 Goodland quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Goodland quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Goodland quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Gem quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Oakley quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
1 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Gem in 2016, burning under an acre 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 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 February 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 19 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
34 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gem in 34 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 18 hail, 15 thunderstorm wind, 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 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | $35,000 | Thomas County Emergency Manager reported a roof blown off a modular home while resident present. No injuries occurred. Also on the property, a utility pole was snapped with power lines down. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew off 36 square feet of roofing from barn. |
| June 1994 | Hail | Gem | $5,000 | Hail broke several windows and destroyed crops. |
| September 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | $3,000 | Two trees were blown down, one was split in half. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | $2,500 | Several large Oak tree branches blown down, with one branch landing on the back of a van without causing significant damage. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | $2,000 | A roof of a greenhouse was blown off by a thunderstorm wind gust at location. Wind speed is estimated based on damage. Time of event is radar estimated. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | $1,000 | Power poles down |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | Lots of pea size hail and torrential rainfall occurring with 60 MPH winds. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Gem | - | The public reported quarter size hail via MPing. |
| July 2024 | Hail | Gem | - | Hail ranged from pea to between a nickel and quarter in size. Also occurred with 60+ MPH winds. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | Estimated winds to be at least 60 MPH. Also occurred with hail ranging from pea to quarter in size. |
| July 2024 | Hail | Gem | - | Trained spotter reported 1.5 inch hail. |
| July 2024 | Hail | Gem | - | Trained spotter reported hail 1 inch in diameter. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | Several tree limbs down approximately 3-4 inches in diameter. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | Trained spotter estimated 60-70 mph wind. |
| May 2023 | Hail | Gem | - | The hail ranged from quarter to golf ball in size. |
| August 2023 | Hail | Gem | - | Report received of hail that was mostly pea sized with a few hailstones that were quarter sized. Time is radar estimated. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Gem | - | Report received of hail ranging from 1-2 inches at location. |
| May 2021 | Tornado (EFU) | Gem | - | Trained spotters and off-duty NWS meteorologists reported brief tornado. Also reported on social media. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | Spotter estimated peak winds at 70 mph. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | Spotter estimated peak thunderstorm winds to be near 60 mph. |
| June 1994 | Hail | Gem | - | Hail broke several windows and destroyed crops. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Gem | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Gem | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Gem | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Gem | - | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Hail | Gem | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Gem | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gem | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Gem | - | no account filed |
| October 2000 | Hail | Gem | - | no account filed |
| May 1995 | Hail | Gem | - | 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.
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 Gem | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2673490 | 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 471208. 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.
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.




