Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetIA-MASON-CITY-IA · Mason City, IA 27,135 pop · income 39th pct · 12 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 Mason City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mason City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kent · lowest
42,524
Kent · lowest
42,524 median HH income
27.3% of the leader · rank #1
Lexington · near
62,364
Lexington · near
62,364 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #2
Merkel · near
62,368
Merkel · near
62,368 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #3
Mason City · this city
62,369
Mason City · this city
62,369 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #4
Bellview · near
62,375
Bellview · near
62,375 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #5
Brookston · near
62,375
Brookston · near
62,375 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #6
Celina · highest
155,875
Celina · highest
155,875 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 Mason 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: 27,135.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Mason City - the verdict
Mason City ranks in the 39th percentile for household income and the 22nd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
39th
percentile, household income
21st
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
22nd
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: Mason City, IA
Iowa's Mason City is a small city, with 27,135 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $62,369 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.3%. Typical homes in Mason City are valued around $130,000, and the median resident age is 43.0 years. About 21.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 63.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 14 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 27% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2546.1 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 45.6°F with 36.3 inches of precipitation per year.
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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $989 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 13.0 minutes, with 79.1% driving alone and 5.4% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 39.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Mason 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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to within-city variation to schools and households to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mason City, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Mason 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 Waukee (26,974 residents, $106,728 income); Marshalltown (27,491 residents, $68,854 income); Ottumwa (25,352 residents, $56,994 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Celina, TX (27,141 residents); Lindenhurst, NY (27,106 residents); Wethersfield, CT (27,180 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Mason 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. 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 7.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Mason City?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2546.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 12% higher 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.
What can 12 Census tracts reveal inside Mason City?
PlainCities matches 12 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.
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 Mason 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 9 public schools within the city match. 21.3% 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
7.3%
Bachelor's degree+
21.3%
Matched public schools
9
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Mason City?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 13.0 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
79.1%
Work from home
5.4%
Public transit
0.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 14,003 workers age 16+.
What physical conditions frame life in Mason City?
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 45.6°F, with 36.3 inches of precipitation. 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
39.7
Annual precipitation
36.3 in
Mean temperature
45.6°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Mason City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -427 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 14 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 downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
27,280
2025 estimate
26,853
Period change
-1.6%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 7.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
C-
City profile score · Mason City, IA
53/100
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.
Poverty rate C-
7.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
224 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$62,369
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Mason City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Poverty rate: 51/100 (C-) · 7.3%
Violent crime: 44/100 (D) · 224 /100k
Household income: 38/100 (F) · $62,369
Bachelor's+ share: 38/100 (F) · 21.3%
Where Mason City sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Mason 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 - Mason City highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Mason City, IA (this city): home $130,000, crime 2,546/100k
Celina, TX : home $458,000, crime 1,467/100k
Wethersfield, CT : home $300,500, crime 1,430/100k
Balch Springs, TX : home $208,200, crime 3,233/100k
Round Lake Beach, IL : home $191,200, crime 983/100k
Kent, OH : home $210,700, crime 1,399/100k
Waukee, IA : home $328,200, crime 782/100k
Marshalltown, IA : home $117,100, crime 2,071/100k
Ottumwa, IA : home $92,400, crime 3,014/100k
Fort Dodge, IA : home $128,900, crime 4,257/100k
Clinton, IA : home $115,400, crime 3,086/100k
Johnston, IA : home $346,200, crime 826/100k
How does Mason City compare to other US cities?
Here's how Mason City stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income39% higher than other cities
Home value21% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety22% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Iowa and the picture shifts: Mason City ranks #128 of 141 Iowa cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Mason 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 Mason City near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mason City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mason City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#486 of 845
42nd percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#362 of 849
57th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#352 of 858
58th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#291 of 858
65th 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
39th percentile nationally for median household income · 22nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Mason City's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Mason 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 Mason City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$130,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 79% 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
Mason City's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,945 of 15,516
More affordable than 87% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#93 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.1×, Mason City sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,945 of 15,516 and #93 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$62,369Mason City, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mason 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 Mason City, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
27,135
Median Income
$62,369
Median Home Value
$130,000
Median Age
43.0
Poverty Rate
7.3%
Labor force participation
63.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2546.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
224.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2322.1
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
45.6°F
Annual Precipitation
36.3"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Mason City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
27,280 residents
2021
27,184 residents
2022
26,906 residents
2023
26,925 residents
2024
26,866 residents
2025
26,853 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
14
housing units authorized
Single-Family
14
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
11
11
0
$3.2M
2020
141
8
133
$15.0M
2021
6
6
0
$1.9M
2022
101
8
93
$11.1M
2023
18
7
11
$3.7M
2024
14
14
0
$3.7M
Permit volume increased 27% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
13.0 minutes
Drive Alone
79.1%
Carpool
10.8%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
2.7%
Work from Home
5.4%
Other
1.3%
Based on 14,003 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 Mason 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 Mason 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 Mason City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mason 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.