Sparta, Michigan
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Sparta Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49345. It stands on Nash Creek. The Survey maps it on the Sparta quadrangle. 4,244 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 797 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSparta grew from 4,140 to 4,244 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 | 4,140 | |
| 2020 | 4,244 | +104 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 15 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.
- 1918 USGS Cedar Springs quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1943 USGS Cedar Springs quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Midland quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Sparta quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Cedar Springs quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Cedar Springs quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
34 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Sparta between 2018 and 2020, burning about 40 acres in total. 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 23 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 August 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ALGOMA TOWNSHIP FD 488 - 2019 |
| 4 July 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SPARTA FD 444 - 2020 |
| 29 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SPARTA FD 520 - 2019 |
| 28 July 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SPARTA FD 490 - 2020 |
| 13 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | KENT CITY-TYRONE TWP FD 0000197 - 2018 |
| 17 June 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ALGOMA TOWNSHIP FD 8061702 - 2018 |
| 15 June 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ALGOMA TOWNSHIP FD 393 - 2019 |
| 14 June 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SPARTA FD 412 - 2019 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Sparta: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Fire Clay (Refractory), 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay Manufacturing Co Clay Pit | Fire Clay (Refractory) | Past Producer | ||
| Contractors Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
12 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sparta in 12 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | $50,000 | Thunderstorm winds struck a fruit orchard and blew 1,600 fruit boxes onto a van, two portable toilets, and a tractor house. A lot of fruit was blown off the trees, and a few fruit trees 6 to 8 inches in diameter were broken off. The area of damage was elongated in a southwest-northeast direction and was about 1.25 mile long. Witnesses said it might have been a tornado, but this could not be confirmed. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | $15,000 | Several trees were uprooted and snapped and the roof was blown off a storage shed near Sparta. |
| October 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | $10,000 | A few trees were blown down by wind gusts estimated at 60 mph. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Sparta | $10,000 | Three quarters inch diameter hail was reported three miles southwest of Sparta. A wind gust to 60 m.p.h. was reported two miles southwest of Comstock Park. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | $5,000 | Several small trees downed near Indian Lakes in Algoma Township. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | $1,000 | Trees reported downed in Sparta. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Sparta | - | An inch to inch and a half diameter hail was reported in and near Sparta. |
| February 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | - | A 58 mile per hour wind gust was reported in Sparta. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | - | Trained weather spotter measured a 92-mph wind gust with local anemometer near the intersection of Peach Ridge Road and 10-Mile Road in Alpine Township. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | - | Official NWS Cooperative Observer measured an 85-mph wind gust as derecho reached Sparta. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sparta | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballards Corners | 3.0 miles | 16 | |
| Englishville | 3.2 miles | 16 | |
| Lisbon | 4.3 miles | 13 | |
| Fruit Ridge Center | 4.3 miles | 14 | |
| Kent City | 4.6 miles | 13 | |
| Alpine | 6.2 miles | 16 | |
| Casnovia | 6.6 miles | 13 | |
| Edgerton | 7.6 miles | 15 |
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 Sparta | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2078520 | 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 638470. 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.








