Benton City, Washington
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1917 and the latest in 1974. It stands in the Benton City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 99320. The Survey maps it on the Benton City quadrangle. 3,479 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 499 feet above sea level.
Population over time
8 figuresBenton City grew from 863 to 3,479 between 1950 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 863 | |
| 1960 | 1,210 | +347 (+40%) |
| 1970 | 1,070 | -140 (-12%) |
| 1980 | 1,980 | +910 (+85%) |
| 1990 | 1,806 | -174 (-9%) |
| 2000 | 2,624 | +818 (+45%) |
| 2010 | 3,038 | +414 (+16%) |
| 2020 | 3,479 | +441 (+15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 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.
- 1917 USGS Pasco quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1951 USGS Richland quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Walla Walla quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Walla Walla quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Benton City quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
28 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 28 fires within 5 miles of Benton City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 15,957 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 6 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 | 9 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 acres | Spokane District | BTN CITY |
| 3 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 acres | Spokane District | WEBBER |
| 29 September 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 311 acres | Spokane District | WEBBER #2 |
| 28 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 58 acres | Spokane District | MCBEE |
| 18 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 acres | Spokane District | WEBBER |
| 18 September 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 25 acres | Spokane District | DENNIS RD |
| 1 September 2018 | Natural | 4,046 acres | Hanford Reach National Monument | WAGON WHEEL |
| 8 August 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Spokane District | WEBBER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Benton City: 5 past producers, 4 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Diatomite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiona | Diatomite | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Benton City | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | ||
| Kiona | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | ||
| South Kiona | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 2019Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Benton City in 2 storm reports in 2019: 1 funnel cloud, 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kiona | 1.1 miles | 10 | |
| Chaffee | 6.3 miles | 11 | |
| West Richland | 7.3 miles | 13 | |
| Badger | 8.1 miles | 11 | |
| Gibbon | 9.4 miles | 10 | |
| Richland | 10.9 miles | 13 | |
| Horse Heaven | 11.6 miles | 10 | |
| Whitstran | 11.7 miles | 10 |
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 Benton City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1504090 | 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 1503314. 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.




