Like all states, Iowa has certain places that are going on hard times. These Iowa places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Iowa.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 85 cities in Iowa with more than 5,000 people.
$46,563 median income · 21.3% poverty · #2 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Appanoose County, Iowa
Centerville, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Iowa thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 5,372 people averages the 2nd lowest median household income in Iowa and the 4th highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$50,109 median income · 21.9% poverty · #4 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Montgomery County, Iowa
The second poorest city in Iowa is Red Oak.
The city ranks as having the 3rd highest incidence of poverty and 4th lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 55th highest in the Hawkeye State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$46,653 median income · 18.5% poverty · #3 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Fayette County, Iowa
Placing as the third poorest city, Oelwein’s median income ranks as the 3rd lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 18.5% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Hawkeye State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$51,311 median income · 20.7% poverty · #7 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Jefferson County, Iowa
Fairfield ranks as the fourth poorest place in Iowa.
The town ranks as having the 7th lowest median household income and the 5th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$58,546 median income · 26.3% poverty · #16 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Johnson County, Iowa
The fifth poorest city in Iowa is Iowa City.
The city ranks as having the 16th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the highest in Iowa.
Still not the best news for Iowa City.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$52,711 median income · 18.3% poverty · #9 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Lee County, Iowa
Keokuk ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Hawkeye State.
It ranks as having the 11th highest incidence of poverty and the 19th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$58,117 median income · 19.1% poverty · #15 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Muscatine County, Iowa
Muscatine places as the seventh poorest city in Iowa.
The city of over 23,489 ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$60,991 median income · 25.5% poverty · #24 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Story County, Iowa
Ames ranks as the eighth poorest city in Iowa.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$52,633 median income · 15.8% poverty · #8 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Union County, Iowa
Creston couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Iowa; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 8th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Creston ranks as having the 18th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Iowa.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$60,230 median income · 18.5% poverty · #20 lowest income in Iowa
Located in
Clinton County, Iowa
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Iowa is Clinton.
The city of 24,322 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Hawkeye State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Iowa’s statewide median.
Iowa statewide median: $75,059
Iowa statewide median: 11.1%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Iowa
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Iowa for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 85 places with more than 5,000 people in Iowa, we ranked each place from 1 to 85 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Centerville, crowned the “Poorest Place In Iowa For 2026”. The median Iowa home is 53 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Iowa
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Centerville | 3.00 | 5,372 | $46,563 | 21.3% | 3.6% |
| 2 | Red Oak | 3.50 | 5,510 | $50,109 | 21.9% | 2.9% |
| 3 | Oelwein | 5.50 | 5,834 | $46,653 | 18.5% | 7.6% |
| 4 | Fairfield | 6.00 | 9,456 | $51,311 | 20.7% | 11.8% |
| 5 | Iowa City | 8.50 | 75,752 | $58,546 | 26.3% | 4.6% |
| 6 | Keokuk | 10.00 | 9,662 | $52,711 | 18.3% | 4.9% |
| 7 | Muscatine | 10.50 | 23,489 | $58,117 | 19.1% | 4.3% |
| 8 | Ames | 13.00 | 67,669 | $60,991 | 25.5% | 5.8% |
| 9 | Creston | 13.00 | 7,435 | $52,633 | 15.8% | 3.6% |
| 10 | Clinton | 14.50 | 24,322 | $60,230 | 18.5% | 3.7% |
| 11 | Waterloo | 14.50 | 67,008 | $57,480 | 16.6% | 5.3% |
| 12 | Anamosa | 15.00 | 5,629 | $60,650 | 18.5% | 5.2% |
| 13 | Fort Madison | 15.50 | 10,133 | $50,705 | 15.0% | 7.3% |
| 14 | Clarinda | 19.50 | 5,353 | $46,348 | 12.1% | 6.5% |
| 15 | Fort Dodge | 19.50 | 24,827 | $60,649 | 15.9% | 6.0% |
| 16 | Cherokee | 20.00 | 5,154 | $61,750 | 18.5% | 2.4% |
| 17 | Atlantic | 20.00 | 6,763 | $61,141 | 17.4% | 1.1% |
| 18 | Ottumwa | 20.00 | 25,430 | $61,103 | 17.2% | 4.6% |
| 19 | Mount Pleasant | 22.00 | 8,951 | $61,042 | 15.7% | 1.7% |
| 20 | Washington | 22.50 | 7,290 | $55,373 | 12.8% | 3.3% |
| 21 | Estherville | 23.00 | 5,839 | $54,124 | 12.6% | 1.1% |
| 22 | Spencer | 24.00 | 11,400 | $59,667 | 14.0% | 4.5% |
| 23 | Oskaloosa | 24.50 | 11,504 | $64,004 | 16.6% | 4.8% |
| 24 | Charles City | 24.50 | 7,232 | $59,180 | 13.3% | 4.6% |
| 25 | Maquoketa | 24.50 | 6,075 | $60,240 | 14.2% | 8.6% |
| 26 | Burlington | 24.50 | 23,728 | $59,000 | 13.2% | 3.9% |
| 27 | Denison | 25.50 | 8,260 | $65,684 | 17.5% | 5.4% |
| 28 | Iowa Falls | 26.00 | 5,038 | $50,417 | 10.7% | 9.1% |
| 29 | Sheldon | 26.00 | 5,474 | $62,159 | 15.3% | 0.6% |
| 30 | Newton | 29.00 | 15,700 | $57,771 | 11.1% | 5.7% |
| 31 | Council Bluffs | 30.00 | 62,586 | $64,578 | 15.1% | 4.2% |
| 32 | Davenport | 33.00 | 100,913 | $66,200 | 15.2% | 4.6% |
| 33 | Knoxville | 33.00 | 7,473 | $61,599 | 12.5% | 4.8% |
| 34 | Des Moines | 34.00 | 212,421 | $65,932 | 15.0% | 5.6% |
| 35 | Manchester | 34.50 | 5,191 | $61,191 | 11.4% | 3.5% |
| 36 | Sioux City | 34.50 | 86,101 | $68,906 | 15.3% | 4.5% |
| 37 | Hiawatha | 37.00 | 7,206 | $66,270 | 13.7% | 4.0% |
| 38 | Dubuque | 38.00 | 59,174 | $65,845 | 12.7% | 4.5% |
| 39 | Marshalltown | 38.00 | 27,626 | $69,068 | 14.3% | 5.3% |
| 40 | Mason City | 38.00 | 27,050 | $64,804 | 12.0% | 2.8% |
| 41 | Cedar Falls | 39.50 | 40,888 | $76,987 | 15.7% | 3.9% |
| 42 | Algona | 40.50 | 5,377 | $56,040 | 6.9% | 2.0% |
| 43 | Grinnell | 40.50 | 9,505 | $65,320 | 11.1% | 4.0% |
| 44 | Coralville | 41.50 | 23,234 | $69,144 | 13.0% | 2.2% |
| 45 | Webster City | 44.50 | 7,769 | $63,430 | 8.6% | 7.0% |
| 46 | Winterset | 46.50 | 5,416 | $67,708 | 10.3% | 3.0% |
| 47 | Glenwood | 47.00 | 5,144 | $71,790 | 11.8% | 2.7% |
| 48 | Decorah | 48.50 | 7,535 | $64,366 | 8.1% | 4.0% |
| 49 | Cedar Rapids | 49.50 | 137,264 | $70,424 | 10.8% | 3.6% |
| 50 | Storm Lake | 50.00 | 11,428 | $62,765 | 7.0% | 4.4% |
| 51 | Perry | 51.00 | 7,985 | $68,910 | 8.9% | 3.6% |
| 52 | Orange City | 52.00 | 6,426 | $82,122 | 11.2% | 2.7% |
| 53 | Waverly | 53.00 | 10,494 | $80,284 | 10.9% | 3.5% |
| 54 | Carroll | 53.50 | 10,208 | $69,706 | 8.9% | 2.5% |
| 55 | Nevada | 53.50 | 6,983 | $75,094 | 9.9% | 2.0% |
| 56 | Le Mars | 54.00 | 10,640 | $74,701 | 9.2% | 2.8% |
| 57 | Boone | 55.50 | 12,424 | $69,222 | 8.3% | 2.0% |
| 58 | Spirit Lake | 57.50 | 5,518 | $65,720 | 6.3% | 3.1% |
| 59 | Clear Lake | 59.50 | 7,607 | $79,415 | 8.3% | 2.4% |
| 60 | Independence | 59.50 | 6,164 | $73,806 | 7.6% | 2.3% |
| 61 | Pleasant Hill | 60.00 | 11,136 | $90,508 | 8.9% | 8.2% |
| 62 | Osceola | 60.00 | 5,523 | $68,284 | 6.4% | 6.0% |
| 63 | Altoona | 61.00 | 21,495 | $86,114 | 8.3% | 7.5% |
| 64 | West Des Moines | 61.00 | 71,083 | $86,594 | 8.4% | 2.4% |
| 65 | Johnston | 63.00 | 24,384 | $106,551 | 10.2% | 2.1% |
| 66 | Marion | 63.50 | 41,896 | $86,743 | 8.1% | 3.6% |
| 67 | Indianola | 65.50 | 16,044 | $75,453 | 6.4% | 4.0% |
| 68 | Sergeant Bluff | 66.00 | 5,171 | $123,481 | 9.5% | 1.7% |
| 69 | Tiffin | 67.50 | 5,737 | $100,952 | 7.6% | 0.4% |
| 70 | Adel | 68.50 | 6,430 | $95,250 | 7.2% | 2.7% |
| 71 | Waukee | 69.00 | 29,236 | $101,029 | 7.4% | 3.5% |
| 72 | Pella | 71.00 | 10,720 | $84,111 | 6.0% | 1.1% |
| 73 | Bettendorf | 71.50 | 39,647 | $100,495 | 6.7% | 2.4% |
| 74 | Windsor Heights | 72.00 | 5,143 | $91,707 | 6.2% | 1.4% |
| 75 | Urbandale | 74.50 | 46,595 | $112,795 | 6.8% | 2.9% |
| 76 | Clive | 74.50 | 19,012 | $132,121 | 7.3% | 4.0% |
| 77 | North Liberty | 76.00 | 21,125 | $102,102 | 6.1% | 3.3% |
| 78 | Sioux Center | 76.50 | 8,454 | $92,983 | 2.2% | 1.2% |
| 79 | Polk City | 78.00 | 6,037 | $164,389 | 6.7% | 3.2% |
| 80 | Norwalk | 78.50 | 14,183 | $102,722 | 4.2% | 3.4% |
| 81 | Ankeny | 79.50 | 72,615 | $108,198 | 4.2% | 1.9% |
| 82 | Grimes | 80.00 | 16,366 | $120,037 | 4.4% | 1.9% |
| 83 | Bondurant | 80.50 | 8,560 | $135,674 | 6.2% | 0.9% |
| 84 | Eldridge | 80.50 | 6,818 | $106,316 | 1.3% | 1.0% |
| 85 | Asbury | 82.50 | 5,989 | $124,957 | 3.2% | 1.2% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 85 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Iowa for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Iowa, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Iowa.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Iowa? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
