Columbia Heights, Minnesota
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Columbia Heights City. It lies in ZIP code area 55421. The Survey maps it on the Minneapolis North quadrangle. 21,973 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 922 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresColumbia Heights grew from 19,496 to 21,973 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 | 19,496 | |
| 2020 | 21,973 | +2,477 (+13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 21 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.
- 1902 USGS Anoka quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1952 USGS Minneapolis North quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Stillwater quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Anoka quadrangle1:62500
- 1955 USGS Stillwater quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Stillwater quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Stillwater quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Minneapolis North quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1975 USGS Stillwater quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Anoka quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Anoka quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
12 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Columbia Heights between 1998 and 2015, burning about 64 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 were 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 August 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 June 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 May 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.5 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 May 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 May 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 April 2000 | Smoking | 1.2 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 April 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 April 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7.4 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
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 Columbia Heights: 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Silica. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minn Silica Sand Pit | Silica | Past Producer | ||
| Minnesota Silica Sand Pit | Silica | Producer | Sandstone |
Storms near this place
5 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Columbia Heights in 5 storm reports between 1995 and 2021: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 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 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbia Heights | $2,000 | A few minor tree limbs blew down near Blaine and Columbia Heights as strong gusty winds moved across the county. One of the tree limbs landed on a power line, and another caused a fire. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbia Heights | - | Large branches were downed. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbia Heights | - | A shed was blown over and a power line was blown down in the city of Columbia Heights. |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Columbia Heights | - | Trees and power lines blown down. Localized street flooding. Similar damages in neighboring Fridley. |
| July 1995 | Hail | Columbia Heights | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hilltop | 1.2 miles | 22 | |
| Fridley | 3.1 miles | 21 | |
| Spring Lake Park | 4.8 miles | 22 | |
| Coon Rapids | 5.6 miles | 21 | |
| Coon Creek | 7.9 miles | 20 | |
| Blaine | 8.4 miles | 19 | |
| Oak Park | 8.8 miles | 20 | |
| Lexington | 8.8 miles | 19 |
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 Columbia Heights | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1978865 | 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 641410. 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.










