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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-WEBSTER-CITY-IA · Webster City, IA 7,769 pop · income 44th pct · 5 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 Webster City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Webster City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Creston · lowest
50,752
Creston · lowest
50,752 median HH income
28.1% of the leader · rank #1
Shell Point · near
65,840
Shell Point · near
65,840 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #2
Old Orchard B… · near
65,842
Old Orchard B… · near
65,842 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #3
Webster City · this city
65,844
Webster City · this city
65,844 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #4
Plainwell · near
65,846
Plainwell · near
65,846 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #5
Southfield · near
65,848
Southfield · near
65,848 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #6
Dry Run · highest
180,850
Dry Run · highest
180,850 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 Webster 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: 7,769.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Webster City - the verdict
Nationally, Webster City sits in the 44th percentile for household income and the 42nd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
44th
percentile, household income
15th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
42nd
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: Webster City, IA
Iowa's Webster City is a small town, with 7,769 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Webster City brings in $65,844 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 12.0%. Webster City's housing stock carries a median value of $115,400, and the median resident age is 40.4 years. About 21.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 55.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 7 residential building permits were authorized in Webster City (Construction Slowdown), down 50% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Webster City reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1614.8 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Webster City's yearly average temperature at 46.1°F with 37.2 inches of precipitation per year and 32.9 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. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Webster 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 reported crime to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to population change to climate and hazard context to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Webster City, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Webster City?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1614.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 29% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Webster City?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.5%. 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Which cities make useful reference points for Webster 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 Perry (7,928 residents, $63,983 income); Clear Lake (7,603 residents, $70,278 income); Decorah (7,597 residents, $62,177 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Palmyra, PA (7,769 residents); Wildewood, MD (7,765 residents); Etowah, NC (7,765 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.
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Webster City?
PlainCities matches 5 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.
Population change
Is Webster City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 7 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
7,812
2025 estimate
7,815
Period change
+0.0%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What physical conditions frame life in Webster 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 46.1°F, with 37.2 inches of precipitation and 32.9 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
39.7
Annual precipitation
37.2 in
Mean temperature
46.1°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What does the education layer cover for Webster 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 4 public schools within the city match. 21.7% 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
12.0%
Bachelor's degree+
21.7%
Matched public schools
4
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Webster 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 1.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
1.8×
Home value
$115,400
Household income
$65,844
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 12.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
D
City profile score · Webster City, IA
49/100
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.
Household income D
$65,844
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
287 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
12.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Webster City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Household income: 43/100 (D) · $65,844
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.7%
Violent crime: 35/100 (F) · 287 /100k
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 12.0%
Where Webster City sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Webster 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 - Webster City highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Webster City, IA (this city): home $115,400, crime 1,615/100k
Lake Dallas, TX : home $245,100, crime 677/100k
Perry, IA : home $122,100, crime 985/100k
Clear Lake, IA : home $235,100, crime 1,884/100k
Decorah, IA : home $234,600, crime 343/100k
Knoxville, IA : home $147,600, crime 2,044/100k
Creston, IA : home $112,600, crime 1,307/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Webster City compare to other US cities?
Webster City measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income44% higher than other cities
Home value15% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety42% 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, Webster City ranks #104 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 Webster 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 Webster City near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Webster City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Webster City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#417 of 845
51st percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#440 of 849
48th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#156 of 858
82nd percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#272 of 858
68th 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
44th percentile nationally for median household income · 42nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Webster City's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Webster 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 Webster City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$115,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 85% 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
Webster City's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#886 of 15,516
More affordable than 94% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#859 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.8×, Webster City sits in the affordable band:
national rank #886 of 15,516 and #859 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
$65,844Webster City, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Webster 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 Webster City, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.0%
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
7,769
Median Income
$65,844
Median Home Value
$115,400
Median Age
40.4
Poverty Rate
12.0%
Labor force participation
55.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1614.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
286.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1328.3
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
46.1°F
Annual Precipitation
37.2"
Annual Snowfall
32.9"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Webster City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,812 residents
2021
7,744 residents
2022
7,779 residents
2023
7,803 residents
2024
7,835 residents
2025
7,815 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
7
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
5
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
14
14
0
$1.1M
2020
6
6
0
$1.5M
2021
33
3
30
$4.5M
2022
7
2
5
$1.5M
2023
14
4
10
$2.9M
2024
7
2
5
$1.5M
Permit volume decreased 50% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.5%
Carpool
5.7%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
2.8%
Work from Home
3.8%
Based on 3,351 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 Webster 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 Webster 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 Webster City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Webster 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.