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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-LAMONI-IA · Lamoni, IA 2,121 pop · income 23rd pct · 3 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 Lamoni
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lamoni on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Selmont-West… · lowest
32,365
Selmont-West… · lowest
32,365 median HH income
15.4% of the leader · rank #1
Lindcove · near
52,292
Lindcove · near
52,292 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #2
Hindsboro · near
52,292
Hindsboro · near
52,292 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #3
Lamoni · this city
52,300
Lamoni · this city
52,300 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #4
Hana · near
52,304
Hana · near
52,304 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #5
Chimayo · near
52,305
Chimayo · near
52,305 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #6
Marshfield Hi… · highest
210,096
Marshfield Hi… · highest
210,096 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Lamoni on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 2,121.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Lamoni places in the 23rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
23rd
percentile, household income
12th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Lamoni, IA
Lamoni is a small town in Iowa, home to 2,121 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Lamoni brings in $52,300 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.7%. Home values in Lamoni run a median of $107,900, and the median resident age is 27.3 years. 48.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 55.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 1 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 50% from five years earlier. NOAA puts Lamoni's yearly average temperature at 51.2°F.
Living costs in Iowa run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Iowa scores 87.8 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $989 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 39.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Lamoni'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 work and mobility to climate and hazard context to housing and income to schools and households to within-city variation to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lamoni, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Lamoni?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
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 51.2°F. 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lamoni?
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.
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Columbus Junction (2,129 residents, $76,518 income); Colfax (2,089 residents, $82,878 income); Sumner (2,159 residents, $56,174 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Selmont-West Selmont, AL (2,121 residents); Marshfield Hills, MA (2,121 residents); San Juan Bautista, CA (2,120 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Lamoni?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.1×
Home value
$107,900
Household income
$52,300
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 3 public schools within the city match. 48.7% 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
14.7%
Bachelor's degree+
48.7%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
2,079
2025 estimate
2,074
Period change
-0.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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-
48.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$52,300
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Lamoni profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 48.7%
Household income: 23/100 (F) · $52,300
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.7%
How does Lamoni compare to other US cities?
Where Lamoni sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income23% higher than other cities
Home value12% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Lamoni 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 Lamoni near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lamoni ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lamoni only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#705 of 845
17th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#482 of 849
43rd percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#101 of 858
88th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#36 of 858
96th 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
23rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Lamoni's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$107,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 88% 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
Lamoni's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,872 of 15,516
More affordable than 88% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,782 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Lamoni sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,872 of 15,516 and #1,782 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$52,300Lamoni, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lamoni, 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 Lamoni, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)48.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,121
Median Income
$52,300
Median Home Value
$107,900
Median Age
27.3
Poverty Rate
14.7%
Labor force participation
55.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
48.7%
Climate
Avg Temperature
51.2°F
Annual Precipitation
N/A
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lamoni's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,079 residents
2021
2,092 residents
2022
2,100 residents
2023
2,096 residents
2024
2,071 residents
2025
2,074 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2
2
0
$0.5M
2020
3
3
0
$0.7M
2021
1
1
0
$0.1M
2022
1
1
0
$0.3M
2023
1
1
0
$0.2M
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 50% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.2%
Carpool
10.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
18.6%
Work from Home
4.8%
Based on 1,022 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 Lamoni. 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 Lamoni 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 Lamoni sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lamoni 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, 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.