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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-IOWA-CITY-IA · Iowa City, IA 75,264 pop · income 31st pct · 36 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Iowa City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Iowa City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Waterloo · lowest
56,344
Waterloo · lowest
56,344 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #1
Sulphur · near
57,531
Sulphur · near
57,531 median HH income
47.5% of the leader · rank #2
Standing Pine · near
57,532
Standing Pine · near
57,532 median HH income
47.5% of the leader · rank #3
Iowa City · this city
57,533
Iowa City · this city
57,533 median HH income
47.5% of the leader · rank #4
Gladstone · near
57,534
Gladstone · near
57,534 median HH income
47.5% of the leader · rank #5
Bellevue · near
57,534
Bellevue · near
57,534 median HH income
47.5% of the leader · rank #6
Broomfield · highest
121,025
Broomfield · highest
121,025 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Iowa City on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 75,264.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Iowa City - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Iowa City places in the 31st percentile for household income and the 32nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
31st
percentile, household income
60th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
32nd
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Iowa City, IA
Iowa City is a small city in Iowa, home to 75,264 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Iowa City report a median income of $57,533 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.8%. Home values in Iowa City run a median of $273,600, and the median resident age is 26.3 years. About 60.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 65.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 133 residential building permits were authorized in Iowa City (Construction Slowdown), down 77% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1995.2 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 48.9°F with 38.5 inches of precipitation per year and 27.5 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Iowa run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Iowa at 87.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $989 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Iowa run around $212, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Iowa City workers runs 15.9 minutes, with 56.0% driving alone and 11.2% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.7 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Iowa City's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from within-city variation to climate and hazard context to housing and income to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Iowa City, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 36 Census tracts reveal inside Iowa City?
PlainCities matches 36 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.9°F, with 38.5 inches of precipitation and 27.5 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Iowa is 39.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
How far does income reach against housing in Iowa City?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Iowa City?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Ankeny (70,542 residents, $106,603 income); West Des Moines (69,893 residents, $84,925 income); Waterloo (66,947 residents, $56,344 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pawtucket, RI (75,280 residents); Missouri City, TX (75,234 residents); Mansfield, TX (75,398 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Iowa City?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 16 public schools within the city match. 60.7% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
7.8%
Bachelor's degree+
60.7%
Matched public schools
16
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Iowa City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,293 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 133 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
2020 estimate
74,936
2025 estimate
76,229
Period change
+1.7%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Iowa City?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1995.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 13% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1995.2
Violent rate
321.3
Property rate
1673.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Iowa City?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 56.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.9 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
56.0%
Work from home
11.2%
Public transit
6.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 41,701 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 7.8% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
C
City profile score · Iowa City, IA
56/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
87.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share A+
60.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
7.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$57,533
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
321 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Iowa City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 92/100 (A+) · 60.7%
Poverty rate: 48/100 (D) · 7.8%
Household income: 31/100 (F) · $57,533
Violent crime: 30/100 (F) · 321 /100k
Where Iowa City sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Iowa City's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Iowa City highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Iowa City, IA (this city): home $273,600, crime 1,995/100k
Pawtucket, RI : home $286,200, crime 1,819/100k
Missouri City, TX : home $281,600, crime 1,191/100k
Mansfield, TX : home $380,000, crime 1,475/100k
Broomfield, CO : home $631,600, crime 2,004/100k
Apple Valley, CA : home $377,300, crime 2,119/100k
Missoula, MT : home $427,400, crime 4,226/100k
Ankeny, IA : home $311,300, crime 1,188/100k
West Des Moines, IA : home $286,300, crime 1,879/100k
Waterloo, IA : home $150,200, crime 2,921/100k
Ames, IA : home $263,800, crime 1,654/100k
Sioux City, IA : home $162,600, crime 3,879/100k
Council Bluffs, IA : home $164,300, crime 2,873/100k
How does Iowa City compare to other US cities?
Here's how Iowa City stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income31% higher than other cities
Home value60% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety32% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Iowa, Iowa City ranks #117 of 141 Iowa cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Iowa City against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Iowa only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Iowa-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Iowa City near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Iowa City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Iowa City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#589 of 845
30th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#53 of 849
94th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#326 of 858
62nd percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#9 of 858
99th percentile in Iowa
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Iowa only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
31st percentile nationally for median household income · 32nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Iowa City's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Iowa City's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Iowa City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$273,60040th percentilemore affordable than 40% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Iowa City's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,477 of 15,516
More affordable than 20% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#418 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 4.8×, Iowa City sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,477 of 15,516 and #418 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$57,533Iowa City, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Iowa City, IA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Iowa City, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)60.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
75,264
Median Income
$57,533
Median Home Value
$273,600
Median Age
26.3
Poverty Rate
7.8%
Labor force participation
65.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
60.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1995.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
321.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1673.8
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
48.9°F
Annual Precipitation
38.5"
Annual Snowfall
27.5"
Schools
Total Schools
16
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Iowa City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
74,936 residents
2021
75,273 residents
2022
75,810 residents
2023
75,903 residents
2024
76,169 residents
2025
76,229 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
133
housing units authorized
Single-Family
133
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
569
98
471
$115.9M
2020
159
116
43
$44.6M
2021
294
137
157
$82.6M
2022
466
104
362
$123.6M
2023
506
79
427
$137.6M
2024
133
133
0
$42.9M
Permit volume decreased 77% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.9 minutes
Drive Alone
56.0%
Carpool
7.6%
Public Transit
6.7%
Walk
14.0%
Work from Home
11.2%
Other
4.5%
Based on 41,701 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Iowa statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $212
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Iowa at $212 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Iowa statewide averages, not a meter reading for Iowa City. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Iowa's BEA cost-of-living index is 87.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Iowa City is $989/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Iowa statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.7 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Iowa statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Iowa City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Iowa City compares to similar-size Iowa cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.