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Stafford, Texas

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Stafford-Missouri City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77477. The Survey maps it on the Missouri City quadrangle. 17,666 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 85 feet above sea level.

Stafford within Fort Bend County

Population over time

2 figures

Stafford fell from 17,693 to 17,666 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.

YearPeople Change
201017,693
202017,666-27 (-0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

37 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 37 fires within 5 miles of Stafford between 2006 and 2020, burning about 446 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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/undetermined28
Debris and open burning4
Arson/incendiarism3
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2013Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
5 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceE073
4 September 2013Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service309 CR. 4360
14 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceE073
9 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceE080
3 August 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceFIRE
27 August 2014Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceW PENNINGTON
10 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest ServiceE080

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fort Bend County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Stafford: 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Halite, Bromine, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Blue Ridge MineHalite, BromineProducer1903
Pugmill #3Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Fort Bend County

Storms near this place

15 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Stafford in 15 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 4 lightning, 4 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 tornado. The reports record 1 death. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1996LightningStafford1 killedno account filed
November 2003Tornado (F2)Stafford$300,000Tornado touched down in the Meadows subdivision in Fort Bend County and traveled into Harris County. One home lost roof with several other homes damaged.
February 2017Tornado (EF0)Stafford$200,000This EF-0 tornado tracked southeastward through the northern part of Stafford and shattered windows in a business area just west of the intersection of FM 1092 and Mula Rd. A 400 pound AC unit was shifted on the roof. Numerous greenhouses were damaged at a nursery along FM 1092. Southeast of the nursery, metal storage buildings were damaged or destroyed. There was more spotty wind damage beyond the end of the more continuous track. An eyewitness observed swirling debris as the storm moved through. The shifting winds were also observed from a gas station security video. Estimated peak winds were 80 mph.
April 2001Thunderstorm WindStafford$150,000Fire Department reported a sheet metal roof was ripped off a building and blown into a neighboring daycare.
July 2006LightningStafford$25,000Lightning strike caused a fire that damaged a home.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindStafford$15,000Wind damage to windows and roof of a business. Report relayed to EMC.
January 2020Thunderstorm WindStafford$11,000There was some trailer damage in a mobile home park.
June 2008LightningStafford$10,000A home suffered some chimney damage from a lightning strike.
July 2006LightningStafford$4,000Lightning struck an apartment complex and took out the electrical systems. A cell phone tower was also knocked out.
February 2005HailStafford$4,000Nickel size hail.
May 2002HailStafford$2,000Hail at US 59 and Wilcrest.
March 2024HailStafford-Ping pong ball sized hail was reported via mPing.
March 2024HailStafford-Quarter sized hail was reported.
August 2017Flash FloodStafford-Flooding being reported in or within homes in Missouri City with water rescues being conducted off of the Westpark Tollway in the Jeanetta Sharpstown area.
April 2015Thunderstorm WindStafford-There were reports of damaged fences and to a home that was under construction within the Promenade subdivision.

Every storm recorded in Fort Bend County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Kingsway1.0 miles11
Missouri City1.1 miles11
Vacarro Manor1.2 miles14
Fifth Street1.3 miles11
Greenbrier Southwest1.4 miles14
Missouri City Estates1.5 miles14
Fondren Grove1.7 miles14
Hunters Glen2.3 miles11

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 StaffordAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q982395The 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 1347777. 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.