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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-OTTUMWA-IA · Ottumwa, IA 25,352 pop · income 30th pct · 11 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 Ottumwa
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ottumwa on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Corsicana · lowest
51,240
Corsicana · lowest
51,240 median HH income
48.0% of the leader · rank #1
Ottumwa · this city
56,994
Ottumwa · this city
56,994 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #2
Worth · near
56,998
Worth · near
56,998 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #3
East Hazel Cr… · near
57,000
East Hazel Cr… · near
57,000 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #4
Summitville · near
57,000
Summitville · near
57,000 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #5
Fremont · near
57,000
Fremont · near
57,000 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #6
Waukee · highest
106,728
Waukee · highest
106,728 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 Ottumwa 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: 25,352.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ottumwa - the verdict
Nationally, Ottumwa sits in the 30th percentile for household income and the 16th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
30th
percentile, household income
7th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
16th
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: Ottumwa, IA
25,352 people live in Ottumwa, Iowa - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Ottumwa households earn a median of $56,994 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.0%. Ottumwa's housing stock carries a median value of $92,400, and the median resident age is 37.4 years. Educational attainment runs 20.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 38 residential building permits were authorized in Ottumwa (Building Boom), up 1167% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Ottumwa's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3013.7 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $989 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Iowa's average monthly utility costs around $212 (state average). Commute times here average 16.5 minutes, with 77.9% driving alone and 3.7% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Ottumwa'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 housing and income to population change to within-city variation to reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ottumwa, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Ottumwa?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -143 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 38 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
PlainCities matches 11 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ottumwa?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Fort Dodge (24,788 residents, $61,769 income); Clinton (24,425 residents, $57,493 income); Johnston (24,196 residents, $103,430 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Brandon, MS (25,352 residents); Denison, TX (25,347 residents); Corsicana, TX (25,344 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.
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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Ottumwa?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3013.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 32% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2616.6
Violent rate
397.1
Total reported rate
3013.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Ottumwa?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.5 minutes.
Public transit
0.5%
Work from home
3.7%
Drive alone
77.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 11,705 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 11 public schools within the city match. 20.1% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
11
Bachelor's degree+
20.1%
Poverty estimate
14.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 14.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
D
City profile score · Ottumwa, IA
41/100
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 F
20.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$56,994
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
397 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Ottumwa profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.1%
Household income: 30/100 (F) · $56,994
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.0%
Violent crime: 22/100 (F) · 397 /100k
Where Ottumwa sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ottumwa'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 - Ottumwa highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Ottumwa, IA (this city): home $92,400, crime 3,014/100k
Brandon, MS : home $255,900, crime 463/100k
Denison, TX : home $167,800, crime 990/100k
Corsicana, TX : home $161,400, crime 2,727/100k
De Pere, WI : home $253,900, crime 644/100k
Caledonia, WI : home $279,400, crime 533/100k
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
Burlington, IA : home $115,800, crime 2,239/100k
Waukee, IA : home $328,200, crime 782/100k
Mason City, IA : home $130,000, crime 2,546/100k
How does Ottumwa compare to other US cities?
Where Ottumwa sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income30% higher than other cities
Home value7% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety16% 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: Ottumwa ranks #133 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 Ottumwa 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 Ottumwa near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ottumwa ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ottumwa only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#609 of 845
28th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#595 of 849
30th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#109 of 858
87th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#339 of 858
60th 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
30th percentile nationally for median household income · 16th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ottumwa's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ottumwa'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 Ottumwa's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$92,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 93% 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
Ottumwa's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#601 of 15,516
More affordable than 96% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#13 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 1.6×, Ottumwa sits in the affordable band:
national rank #601 of 15,516 and #13 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
$56,994Ottumwa, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ottumwa, 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 Ottumwa, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
25,352
Median Income
$56,994
Median Home Value
$92,400
Median Age
37.4
Poverty Rate
14.0%
Labor force participation
59.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3013.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
397.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2616.6
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.
Schools
Total Schools
11
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ottumwa's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
25,462 residents
2021
25,407 residents
2022
25,218 residents
2023
25,412 residents
2024
25,469 residents
2025
25,319 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
38
housing units authorized
Single-Family
32
detached homes
Multifamily
6
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.3M
2020
3
3
0
$0.3M
2021
5
5
0
$0.7M
2022
4
4
0
$0.6M
2023
44
38
6
$11.5M
2024
38
32
6
$9.9M
Permit volume increased 1167% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.5 minutes
Drive Alone
77.9%
Carpool
14.6%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
3.7%
Other
2.1%
Based on 11,705 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 Ottumwa. 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 Ottumwa 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 Ottumwa sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ottumwa 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, 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.