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Welcome to Storm Lake ...

The city of Storm Lake is located in Buena Vista County<1> and is the County Seat for Buena Vista County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Storm Lake, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1869.

A typical abbreviation for Storm Lake: Storm Lk.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Storm Lake has a population of 10,391 people<2> (see below for details).

Storm Lake is 1,430 feet [436 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Storm Lake lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Code for Storm Lake: 712

The ZIP code for Storm Lake: 50588<4>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Storm Lake had an population of 10,391 people. This is a decrease of 1.97% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 3.13% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Storm Lake had a population of 10,600 people (or 52.07% of the total population of Buena Vista County). This makes Storm Lake the county's most populous community.

The population of Storm Lake represents 0.35% of the total population of Iowa (which has 3,046,355 people), making it the state's 36th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 10,600 people, the population of Storm Lake increased 5.2% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 10,076 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Storm Lake.

Websites for Storm Lake ...

Official Website: www.stormlake.org/

Communities near Storm Lake ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Storm Lake.

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Storm Lake. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Storm Lake.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Storm Lake. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Storm Lake.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Storm Lake. Our list includes 19 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Storm Lake.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Storm Lake ...

Looking for more information about Storm Lake? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Storm Lake, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Storm Lake.

Adding Storm Lake to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Storm Lake in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Storm Lake was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

X2X - From that list, the Storm Lake post office opened in 1869.

We also found Storm Lake in the book titled List of Post Offices in the United States (1870).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Storm Lake.

The official website for Storm Lake: www.stormlake.org/

The official website for Buena Vista County: www.co.buena-vista.ia.us/

The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Iowa's counties, including Buena Vista, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Storm Lake.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Storm Lake - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Storm Lake). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Storm Lake or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<7>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025