Wondering where the richest folks live in the Hawkeye State? Wonder no longer, because we’ve used Saturday Night Science to take the guesswork out of determining the wealthiest places in Iowa.
We started by narrowing down our search to only cities with a population of at least 3,000, which left us with 120 cities. Then, we looked for the cities with the highest median household incomes and home prices. That left us with only the most-moneyed spots in Iowa.
The places in Iowa with the highest concentration of wealth are largely around the state’s capital and biggest city, Des Moines. About half the cities on this list are suburbs of Des Moines, with Waukee being the richest of the rich suburbs. If you’re looking for money in the eastern part of the state, North Liberty, situated between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, is your best bet.
In any case, you don’t usually have to travel far from Iowa’s biggest cities to find the hordes of wealth.
$164,389 median income · 6.7% poverty · #1 income in Iowa
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$132,121 median income · 7.3% poverty · #3 income in Iowa
Located in
Polk County, Iowa
Clive is a city in Dallas and Polk counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census the population is at 15,447. It is part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clive is known for its Greenbelt Park and trail system running through the entire community. Clive serves as the axis of the western Des Moines suburbs, being located between Urbandale, Waukee and West Des Moines along the major transportation corridors of I-35, I-80 and I-235. The City of Urbandale is to the north to northwest, the City of West Des Moines is to the southeast to southwest, the City of Waukee in Dallas County is to the west.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$113,295 median income · 3.2% poverty · #8 income in Iowa
$122,262 median income · 8.9% poverty · #6 income in Iowa
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$124,957 median income · 3.2% poverty · #4 income in Iowa
Asbury is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and a suburb of the city of Dubuque. It is part of the Dubuque, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,357 at the 2010 census. Asbury is the second-largest city in Dubuque County, surpassing Dyersville, Iowa to become the second-largest in the 2010 U.S. Census count. The city is largely a bedroom community, made up of spacious, new subdivisions whose residents work in Dubuque or Peosta, Iowa.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$123,481 median income · 9.5% poverty · #5 income in Iowa
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$106,551 median income · 10.2% poverty · #14 income in Iowa
Located in
Polk County, Iowa
Johnston is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 17,278 in the 2010 census, an increase of almost 100% from the 8,649 population in the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$120,037 median income · 4.4% poverty · #7 income in Iowa
Located in
Polk County, Iowa
Grimes is a city in Dallas and Polk counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 8,246 at the 2010 census. Grimes is part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$112,795 median income · 6.8% poverty · #9 income in Iowa
Located in
Polk County, Iowa
Urbandale is a city in Polk and Dallas counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 39,463. It is part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$135,674 median income · 6.2% poverty · #2 income in Iowa
Bondurant is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,860 in the 2010 census, an increase of 109% from the 1,846 population in the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.
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: $231,585
Iowa statewide median: 11.1%
On the map
Where the money lives in Iowa
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the richest places in Iowa for 2026
The first thing most people reach for is personal income. After all, rich people have really high salaries. But one statistic doesn’t capture what it means to be one of the “richest places,” so we applied Saturday Night Science to two measures from the 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Median household income
- Median home value
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place is, and home values are a measure of accumulated wealth. The two combine to define a “Rich City.”
After collecting the data for all 120 places in Iowa with more than 3,000 people, we ranked each place from 1 to 120 on both criteria, then averaged the two ranks into a “Rich Score.” The place with the lowest Rich Score, Polk City, is crowned the richest city in Iowa for 2026.
The full plate
All 100 richest cities in Iowa, ranked
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Rich Score | Population | Median income | Median home value | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Polk City | 1.50 | 6,037 | $164,389 | $427,587 | 6.7% | 3.2% |
| 2 | Clive | 3.00 | 19,012 | $132,121 | $425,730 | 7.3% | 4.0% |
| 3 | Solon | 4.50 | 3,152 | $113,295 | $445,624 | 3.2% | 0.9% |
| 4 | Robins | 5.00 | 3,332 | $122,262 | $399,970 | 8.9% | 8.0% |
| 5 | Asbury | 5.50 | 5,989 | $124,957 | $381,428 | 3.2% | 1.2% |
| 6 | Sergeant Bluff | 7.00 | 5,171 | $123,481 | $354,762 | 9.5% | 1.7% |
| 7 | Johnston | 9.50 | 24,384 | $106,551 | $394,441 | 10.2% | 2.1% |
| 8 | Grimes | 9.50 | 16,366 | $120,037 | $348,193 | 4.4% | 1.9% |
| 9 | Urbandale | 10.00 | 46,595 | $112,795 | $349,851 | 6.8% | 2.9% |
| 10 | Bondurant | 11.00 | 8,560 | $135,674 | $330,602 | 6.2% | 0.9% |
| 11 | Le Claire | 12.00 | 4,735 | $104,844 | $378,377 | 6.8% | 1.8% |
| 12 | Huxley | 13.00 | 4,544 | $112,094 | $341,229 | 4.5% | 1.3% |
| 13 | Mount Vernon | 13.00 | 4,513 | $112,656 | $339,887 | 8.2% | 4.2% |
| 14 | Eldridge | 14.00 | 6,818 | $106,316 | $347,341 | 1.3% | 1.0% |
| 15 | Adel | 14.50 | 6,430 | $95,250 | $390,598 | 7.2% | 2.7% |
| 16 | Ankeny | 15.50 | 72,615 | $108,198 | $338,168 | 4.2% | 1.9% |
| 17 | Norwalk | 18.00 | 14,183 | $102,722 | $332,836 | 4.2% | 3.4% |
| 18 | Waukee | 18.00 | 29,236 | $101,029 | $338,881 | 7.4% | 3.5% |
| 19 | Sioux Center | 19.00 | 8,454 | $92,983 | $345,761 | 2.2% | 1.2% |
| 20 | Pella | 20.50 | 10,720 | $84,111 | $351,502 | 6.0% | 1.1% |
| 21 | Tiffin | 21.50 | 5,737 | $100,952 | $327,121 | 7.6% | 0.4% |
| 22 | Bettendorf | 21.50 | 39,647 | $100,495 | $328,096 | 6.7% | 2.4% |
| 23 | Carlisle | 24.00 | 4,255 | $109,191 | $286,847 | 3.1% | 6.1% |
| 24 | North Liberty | 24.00 | 21,125 | $102,102 | $307,636 | 6.1% | 3.3% |
| 25 | West Des Moines | 26.50 | 71,083 | $86,594 | $320,156 | 8.4% | 2.4% |
| 26 | Altoona | 27.50 | 21,495 | $86,114 | $317,902 | 8.3% | 7.5% |
| 27 | Pleasant Hill | 29.50 | 11,136 | $90,508 | $299,730 | 8.9% | 8.2% |
| 28 | Clear Lake | 29.50 | 7,607 | $79,415 | $322,831 | 8.3% | 2.4% |
| 29 | Orange City | 30.00 | 6,426 | $82,122 | $314,346 | 11.2% | 2.7% |
| 30 | Windsor Heights | 31.00 | 5,143 | $91,707 | $282,953 | 6.2% | 1.4% |
| 31 | Story City | 31.00 | 3,398 | $96,605 | $275,224 | 12.6% | 3.5% |
| 32 | Indianola | 33.50 | 16,044 | $75,453 | $309,171 | 6.4% | 4.0% |
| 33 | Rock Valley | 34.00 | 4,059 | $76,250 | $304,709 | 9.3% | 0.4% |
| 34 | Marion | 35.50 | 41,896 | $86,743 | $271,355 | 8.1% | 3.6% |
| 35 | Glenwood | 35.50 | 5,144 | $71,790 | $310,533 | 11.8% | 2.7% |
| 36 | Dyersville | 35.50 | 4,423 | $83,559 | $281,296 | 4.9% | 3.2% |
| 37 | Waverly | 38.50 | 10,494 | $80,284 | $271,473 | 10.9% | 3.5% |
| 38 | Le Mars | 40.50 | 10,640 | $74,701 | $275,107 | 9.2% | 2.8% |
| 39 | Cedar Falls | 41.00 | 40,888 | $76,987 | $259,137 | 15.7% | 3.9% |
| 40 | Spirit Lake | 43.00 | 5,518 | $65,720 | $328,918 | 6.3% | 3.1% |
| 41 | Nevada | 45.00 | 6,983 | $75,094 | $241,439 | 9.9% | 2.0% |
| 42 | Winterset | 47.00 | 5,416 | $67,708 | $289,608 | 10.3% | 3.0% |
| 43 | Carter Lake | 47.50 | 3,767 | $85,349 | $205,604 | 11.5% | 3.8% |
| 44 | Monticello | 49.50 | 4,071 | $70,015 | $237,550 | 6.0% | 0.8% |
| 45 | Coralville | 49.50 | 23,234 | $69,144 | $256,223 | 13.0% | 2.2% |
| 46 | Garner | 50.00 | 3,049 | $70,726 | $225,771 | 11.5% | 1.9% |
| 47 | Decorah | 51.00 | 7,535 | $64,366 | $304,335 | 8.1% | 4.0% |
| 48 | Independence | 51.50 | 6,164 | $73,806 | $216,073 | 7.6% | 2.3% |
| 49 | West Liberty | 54.50 | 3,776 | $69,345 | $219,903 | 11.3% | 2.0% |
| 50 | Hiawatha | 54.50 | 7,206 | $66,270 | $254,300 | 13.7% | 4.0% |
| 51 | Cedar Rapids | 56.00 | 137,264 | $70,424 | $204,112 | 10.8% | 3.6% |
| 52 | Boone | 56.00 | 12,424 | $69,222 | $210,007 | 8.3% | 2.0% |
| 53 | Milford | 56.00 | 3,311 | $63,369 | $282,820 | 8.9% | 4.2% |
| 54 | Dubuque | 56.50 | 59,174 | $65,845 | $245,147 | 12.7% | 4.5% |
| 55 | Vinton | 57.00 | 4,948 | $66,495 | $236,812 | 12.6% | 2.5% |
| 56 | Carroll | 60.50 | 10,208 | $69,706 | $200,081 | 8.9% | 2.5% |
| 57 | Humboldt | 62.00 | 4,771 | $74,500 | $182,713 | 15.9% | 7.8% |
| 58 | Council Bluffs | 63.00 | 62,586 | $64,578 | $223,906 | 15.1% | 4.2% |
| 59 | Des Moines | 63.50 | 212,421 | $65,932 | $208,166 | 15.0% | 5.6% |
| 60 | Ames | 64.00 | 67,669 | $60,991 | $274,367 | 25.5% | 5.8% |
| 61 | Osage | 64.00 | 3,561 | $68,730 | $200,501 | 6.9% | 1.8% |
| 62 | Grinnell | 65.00 | 9,505 | $65,320 | $208,194 | 11.1% | 4.0% |
| 63 | Sioux City | 65.00 | 86,101 | $68,906 | $196,299 | 15.3% | 4.5% |
| 64 | Iowa City | 66.50 | 75,752 | $58,546 | $298,092 | 26.3% | 4.6% |
| 65 | Tipton | 68.00 | 3,106 | $61,115 | $237,386 | 12.3% | 1.0% |
| 66 | Albia | 68.50 | 3,663 | $70,455 | $169,116 | 14.7% | 5.1% |
| 67 | Anamosa | 68.50 | 5,629 | $60,650 | $243,589 | 18.5% | 5.2% |
| 68 | Osceola | 68.50 | 5,523 | $68,284 | $187,628 | 6.4% | 6.0% |
| 69 | Sheldon | 68.50 | 5,474 | $62,159 | $220,403 | 15.3% | 0.6% |
| 70 | Camanche | 69.00 | 4,550 | $64,153 | $203,312 | 11.5% | 0.3% |
| 71 | Forest City | 69.00 | 4,290 | $69,205 | $176,421 | 12.4% | 2.7% |
| 72 | Manchester | 69.50 | 5,191 | $61,191 | $222,974 | 11.4% | 3.5% |
| 73 | Marshalltown | 71.00 | 27,626 | $69,068 | $173,581 | 14.3% | 5.3% |
| 74 | Davenport | 71.00 | 100,913 | $66,200 | $187,412 | 15.2% | 4.6% |
| 75 | Perry | 72.00 | 7,985 | $68,910 | $172,452 | 8.9% | 3.6% |
| 76 | Williamsburg | 73.00 | 3,360 | $58,059 | $261,167 | 5.8% | 2.0% |
| 77 | Waukon | 73.00 | 3,792 | $60,269 | $232,216 | 10.0% | 3.0% |
| 78 | Knoxville | 74.00 | 7,473 | $61,599 | $203,230 | 12.5% | 4.8% |
| 79 | Oskaloosa | 76.50 | 11,504 | $64,004 | $186,483 | 16.6% | 4.8% |
| 80 | Denison | 77.00 | 8,260 | $65,684 | $176,095 | 17.5% | 5.4% |
| 81 | Cresco | 79.50 | 3,908 | $60,608 | $201,240 | 13.4% | 1.2% |
| 82 | Mount Pleasant | 81.00 | 8,951 | $61,042 | $191,462 | 15.7% | 1.7% |
| 83 | Storm Lake | 81.00 | 11,428 | $62,765 | $177,022 | 7.0% | 4.4% |
| 84 | New Hampton | 81.00 | 3,453 | $62,870 | $176,470 | 17.3% | 2.8% |
| 85 | Tama | 81.50 | 3,051 | $68,661 | $138,582 | 24.0% | 7.5% |
| 86 | Maquoketa | 83.00 | 6,075 | $60,240 | $197,794 | 14.2% | 8.6% |
| 87 | Mason City | 83.50 | 27,050 | $64,804 | $154,095 | 12.0% | 2.8% |
| 88 | Spencer | 85.50 | 11,400 | $59,667 | $193,031 | 14.0% | 4.5% |
| 89 | Harlan | 86.00 | 4,891 | $57,488 | $202,951 | 9.1% | 4.8% |
| 90 | Newton | 86.50 | 15,700 | $57,771 | $200,884 | 11.1% | 5.7% |
| 91 | Webster City | 87.50 | 7,769 | $63,430 | $147,379 | 8.6% | 7.0% |
| 92 | Atlantic | 89.00 | 6,763 | $61,141 | $158,965 | 17.4% | 1.1% |
| 93 | Cherokee | 90.00 | 5,154 | $61,750 | $148,066 | 18.5% | 2.4% |
| 94 | Muscatine | 91.00 | 23,489 | $58,117 | $184,866 | 19.1% | 4.3% |
| 95 | Washington | 92.50 | 7,290 | $55,373 | $190,722 | 12.8% | 3.3% |
| 96 | Evansdale | 94.00 | 4,518 | $60,397 | $155,813 | 24.0% | 6.2% |
| 97 | Algona | 94.50 | 5,377 | $56,040 | $179,883 | 6.9% | 2.0% |
| 98 | Jefferson | 94.50 | 4,152 | $58,895 | $171,614 | 7.3% | 1.1% |
| 99 | Eagle Grove | 95.50 | 3,593 | $63,125 | $118,266 | 30.2% | 1.1% |
| 100 | Fort Dodge | 99.00 | 24,827 | $60,649 | $129,004 | 15.9% | 6.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 120 cities with more than 3,000 residents.
Polk City is the richest place in Iowa for 2026
When we set out to identify the richest places in Iowa, we weren’t sure what we’d find, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in the state. The richest cities in Iowa are Polk City, Clive, and Solon, and when you look at the data they sit at the very top of the income ladder for everyone who lives there.
Breaking into the top ten takes a median household income of at least $106,551. If you’re curious about the other end of the ledger, the poorest places are listed to the right.
