Murphy, Texas
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1924 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Plano census division. It lies in ZIP code area 75094. It stands on Cottonwood Creek. The Survey maps it on the Wylie quadrangle. 21,013 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 581 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresMurphy grew from 17,708 to 21,013 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 | 17,708 | |
| 2020 | 21,013 | +3,305 (+19%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 12 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.
- 1924 USGS Mc Kinney 4-d quadrangle1:48000
- 1929 USGS McKinney quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Sherman quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Wylie quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1985 USGS McKinney quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
99 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 99 fires within 5 miles of Murphy between 2005 and 2016, burning about 124 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 |
| Debris and open burning | 35 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Smoking | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | PARKER RD |
| 5 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 15-349 |
| 29 September 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | SANSEN |
| 25 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 22 September 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 13-0281 |
| 2 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | 12-0290 |
| 17 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 14 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 12-0300 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
30 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Murphy in 30 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 20 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 lightning, 1 flash flood. 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 2009 | Lightning | Murphy | $200,000 | Lightning started a house fire on Claybrook in Wylie. Damage occurred to the attic and second story of the home. |
| September 2009 | Lightning | Murphy | $150,000 | A home in Murphy was completely destroyed on the interior by a fire that was started from a lightning strike. |
| April 2021 | Hail | Murphy | $50,000 | A public report indicated golf ball to hen egg sized hail near the city of Murphy, TX. |
| March 2016 | Hail | Murphy | $50,000 | Ping Pong ball sized hail was reported near Los Rios Blvd and Park Blvd. |
| March 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Murphy | $25,000 | Several fences, a trampoline, and a gazebo were lofted into the air, twisted, and destroyed. |
| April 2021 | Hail | Murphy | $20,000 | A public report indicated ping pong ball to golf ball sized hail near the city of Murphy, TX. |
| March 2016 | Hail | Murphy | $20,000 | Up to ping pong ball sized hail reported in Murphy. |
| September 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Murphy | $15,000 | Severe thunderstorm winds knocked down large trees and large tree branches in Murphy. Also, several power poles were either snapped or leaning in the city. |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Murphy | $10,000 | Trees and fences were blown down by high thunderstorm wind. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Murphy | $5,000 | A snapped tree was reported in Murphy. |
| March 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Murphy | $5,000 | Fire and rescue reported wind destroying a barn and debris being blown into power lines. |
| September 2009 | Lightning | Murphy | $5,000 | Lightning started a fire at a home in Murphy that caused minor damage to the home. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Murphy | $1,000 | Amateur radio spotters reported half dollar sized hail in the city of Murphy. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Murphy | - | Report of 1 inch hail from mPING. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Murphy | - | Report of 1 inch hail from mPING. |
| March 2025 | Hail | Murphy | - | Reported via mPING just east of Murphy. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Murphy | - | Report from mPING: Half Dollar (1.25 in.). |
| May 2025 | Hail | Murphy | - | Report from mPING: Ping Pong Ball (1.50 in.). |
| April 2021 | Hail | Murphy | - | Emergency management reported quarter sized hail near the intersection of Renner Rd and Murphy Rd. |
| November 2021 | Hail | Murphy | - | A public report indicated quarter sized hail just south of Murphy, TX. |
| March 2019 | Hail | Murphy | - | Murphy Police Department reported half-dollar size hail at their police station. Quarter sized hail was also reported in Murphy near High Point and Crestwick by a trained spotter. |
| January 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Murphy | - | Public reports an estimated 64 MPH wind gust in Murphy. |
| March 2017 | Hail | Murphy | - | Amateur radio reported quarter-sized hail near the intersection of Hwy 544 and Mcreary Rd in the city of Sachse, TX. |
| May 2007 | Hail | Murphy | - | Occurred on East Renner Road. |
| June 2000 | Flash Flood | Murphy | - | Flash flooding of streets was reported in town. |
| May 2016 | Hail | Murphy | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Murphy | - | no account filed |
| January 1998 | Hail | Murphy | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Murphy | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Murphy | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parker | 2.8 miles | 12 | |
| Saint Paul | 3.8 miles | 12 | |
| Wylie | 3.9 miles | 12 | |
| Plano | 4.6 miles | 12 | |
| Seis Lagos | 4.6 miles | 12 | |
| Lucas | 5.1 miles | 12 | |
| Lavon Lake Lodges | 6.1 miles | 12 | |
| Trinity Park | 6.3 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 Murphy | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q973908 | 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 1378721. 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.





