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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-WATERLOO-IA · Waterloo, IA 66,947 pop · income 29th pct · 39 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 Waterloo
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Waterloo on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Millington · lowest
56,339
Millington · lowest
56,339 median HH income
52.8% of the leader · rank #1
New Florence · near
56,339
New Florence · near
56,339 median HH income
52.8% of the leader · rank #2
Gainesville · near
56,341
Gainesville · near
56,341 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #3
Waterloo · this city
56,344
Waterloo · this city
56,344 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #4
Plymptonville · near
56,346
Plymptonville · near
56,346 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #5
Ankeny · highest
106,603
Ankeny · highest
106,603 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Waterloo 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: 66,947.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Waterloo - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Waterloo places in the 29th percentile for household income and the 17th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
29th
percentile, household income
27th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
17th
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: Waterloo, IA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 66,947 residents in Waterloo, a small city within Iowa. Households in Waterloo report a median income of $56,344 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.5%. Home values in Waterloo run a median of $150,200, and the median resident age is 36.6 years. 22.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 61.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 109 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 54% from five years earlier. Waterloo's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2920.8 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). NOAA puts Waterloo's yearly average temperature at 49.0°F with 36.3 inches of precipitation per year and 39.1 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). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $989 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Iowa's average monthly utility costs around $212 (state average). 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 Waterloo'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 population change to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to schools and households to reported crime to within-city variation to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Waterloo, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Waterloo?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Ames (66,112 residents, $60,102 income); West Des Moines (69,893 residents, $84,925 income); Ankeny (70,542 residents, $106,603 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Delray Beach, FL (66,940 residents); Lodi, CA (67,008 residents); Grand Junction, CO (67,027 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.
Is Waterloo growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -340 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 109 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Waterloo?
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 77.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 39 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Waterloo?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 49.0°F, with 36.3 inches of precipitation and 39.1 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.
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.
Mean temperature
49.0°F
Annual precipitation
36.3 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
39.7
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The NCES join finds 16 public schools within the city match. 22.6% 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
16
Bachelor's degree+
22.6%
Poverty estimate
11.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Waterloo?
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 2920.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 28% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2444.8
Violent rate
476.0
Total reported rate
2920.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Waterloo?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.5%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$56,344
Home value
$150,200
Value / income
2.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 11.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
D
City profile score · Waterloo, IA
43/100
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 D
22.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$56,344
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
476 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Waterloo profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 42/100 (D) · 22.6%
Poverty rate: 34/100 (F) · 11.5%
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,344
Violent crime: 17/100 (F) · 476 /100k
Where Waterloo sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Waterloo'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 - Waterloo highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Waterloo, IA (this city): home $150,200, crime 2,921/100k
Delray Beach, FL : home $386,700, crime 3,053/100k
Grand Junction, CO : home $358,300, crime 3,716/100k
Davis, CA : home $829,000, crime 2,398/100k
Madera, CA : home $335,900, crime 1,571/100k
Ames, IA : home $263,800, crime 1,654/100k
West Des Moines, IA : home $286,300, crime 1,879/100k
Ankeny, IA : home $311,300, crime 1,188/100k
Council Bluffs, IA : home $164,300, crime 2,873/100k
Dubuque, IA : home $193,100, crime 1,836/100k
Iowa City, IA : home $273,600, crime 1,995/100k
How does Waterloo compare to other US cities?
Waterloo measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income29% higher than other cities
Home value27% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety17% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Iowa alone, Waterloo ranks #131 of 141 Iowa cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Waterloo 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 Waterloo near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Waterloo ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Waterloo only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#628 of 845
26th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#272 of 849
68th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#174 of 858
79th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#250 of 858
71st 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
29th percentile nationally for median household income · 17th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Waterloo's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Waterloo'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 Waterloo's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$150,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 73% 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
Waterloo's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,852 of 15,516
More affordable than 69% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#60 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.7×, Waterloo sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,852 of 15,516 and #60 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$56,344Waterloo, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Waterloo, 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 Waterloo, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
66,947
Median Income
$56,344
Median Home Value
$150,200
Median Age
36.6
Poverty Rate
11.5%
Labor force participation
61.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2920.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
476.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2444.8
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
49.0°F
Annual Precipitation
36.3"
Annual Snowfall
39.1"
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
Waterloo's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
67,259 residents
2021
66,897 residents
2022
66,492 residents
2023
66,696 residents
2024
67,005 residents
2025
66,919 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
109
housing units authorized
Single-Family
45
detached homes
Multifamily
64
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
237
48
189
$64.6M
2020
94
46
48
$16.5M
2021
13
11
2
$9.8M
2022
48
24
24
$9.6M
2023
235
47
188
$32.4M
2024
109
45
64
$19.1M
Permit volume decreased 54% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.8%
Carpool
12.1%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
7.1%
Other
1.1%
Based on 31,742 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 Waterloo. 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 Waterloo 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 Waterloo sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Waterloo 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.