The unfortunate fact of the matter is that some places in the Hawkeye State have a larger percent of their population that never graduated from high school.
While the emphasis on going to college might be overblown, the fact is that not graduating from high school puts you at a significant disadvantage on average. Educational attainment might not be the best way to measure one person’s intelligence, but it does shine a light on the state.
We will use Saturday Night Science to determine what places in Iowa have the highest percentage of adults without a high school degree.
A recent study we published found that Iowa is the 8th smartest state in the United States, with an average IQ of 103.
But that doesn’t mean that a few cities in Iowa are a bit slower than others due to a lack of basic education.
#1 dumbest in Iowa
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Emmet County, Iowa
Estherville is a city in Emmet County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6,360 in the 2010 census, a decline from 6,656 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Emmet County. Estherville is home to the main campus of Iowa Lakes Community College.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Crawford County, Iowa
Denison is a city in Crawford County, Iowa, United States, along the Boyer River. The population was 8,298 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Crawford County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Buena Vista County, Iowa
Storm Lake is a city in Buena Vista County, Iowa, United States. The population was 10,600 in the 2010 census, an increase from 10,076 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Buena Vista County. Storm Lake is home to Buena Vista University, originally Buena Vista College. Tyson Foods operates a large hog slaughterhouse, meat packing plant, and turkey processing plant in Storm Lake.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Dallas County, Iowa
Perry is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States, along the North Raccoon River. The population was 7,702 at the 2010 Census. It is part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Montgomery County, Iowa
Red Oak is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Iowa, United States, located along the East Nishnabotna River. The population was 5,742 in the 2010 census, a decline from the 6,197 population in the 2000 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Marshall County, Iowa
Marshalltown is a city in, and the county seat of, Marshall County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,552 in the 2010 census, compared to 26,009 in 2000.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Appanoose County, Iowa
Centerville is a city in and the county seat of Appanoose County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,528 in the 2010 census, a decline from 5,924 in 2000. After the turn of the 20th century Centerville had a booming coal mining industry that attracted many European immigrants. The city today remains the home of many Swedish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Croatian-Americans, Albanian-Americans and others descended from immigrants who worked in the mines.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Lee County, Iowa
Keokuk is a city and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is also the most southerly city in Iowa. The population was 10,780 at the 2010 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park. It is located in the extreme southeast corner of Iowa where the Des Moines River meets with the Mississippi. It is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 61, 136 and 218. Just across the rivers are the towns of Hamilton and Warsaw, Illinois, and Alexandria, Missouri.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 dumbest in Iowa
Located in
Fayette County, Iowa
Oelwein is a city in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6,415 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 4.1% from the 2000 census. The largest community in Fayette County, it is located at the junction of State Highways 3 and 150.
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.
On the map
Where Iowa’s dumbest cities are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the dumbest cities in the Hawkeye State
We realize that formal education is only part of it when it comes to being intelligent, but on the other hand, knowing the difference between they’re, their, and there is always going to make you look pretty stupid.
So, we used Saturday Night Science to narrow down our criteria to focus on a city’s educational opportunities and what percentage of the population takes advantage of those opportunities.
In short, we came up with these criteria to determine the dumbest cities in Iowa:
- % of the city’s population with less than a high school education (Age 25+)
- % of city’s population with a college degree (Age 25+)
We got the data from the U.S. Census 2020-2024 American Community Survey.
Then, our algorithm generates a rank for each place in these categories. After crunching all the numbers, a ranking of the cities in Iowa from dumbest to brightest.
For this ranking, we used every Iowa city with at least 5,000 residents. We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the dumbest cities in Iowa.
The full plate
Dumbest Cities In Iowa For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | % Adult High School Dropout | % Highly Educated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Osceola | 5,523 | 17.0% | 13.0% |
| 2 | Estherville | 5,839 | 14.0% | 13.0% |
| 3 | Denison | 8,260 | 26.0% | 18.0% |
| 4 | Storm Lake | 11,428 | 28.0% | 19.0% |
| 5 | Perry | 7,985 | 13.0% | 18.0% |
| 6 | Red Oak | 5,510 | 12.0% | 17.0% |
| 7 | Marshalltown | 27,626 | 20.0% | 20.0% |
| 8 | Centerville | 5,372 | 10.0% | 16.0% |
| 9 | Keokuk | 9,662 | 11.0% | 18.0% |
| 10 | Oelwein | 5,834 | 10.0% | 17.0% |
| 11 | Ottumwa | 25,430 | 13.0% | 21.0% |
| 12 | Sheldon | 5,474 | 14.0% | 21.0% |
| 13 | Council Bluffs | 62,586 | 12.0% | 21.0% |
| 14 | Mount Pleasant | 8,951 | 14.0% | 23.0% |
| 15 | Fort Madison | 10,133 | 9.0% | 19.0% |
| 16 | Clarinda | 5,353 | 7.0% | 15.0% |
| 17 | Clinton | 24,322 | 10.0% | 21.0% |
| 18 | Muscatine | 23,489 | 10.0% | 22.0% |
| 19 | Waterloo | 67,008 | 10.0% | 22.0% |
| 20 | Newton | 15,700 | 7.0% | 20.0% |
| 21 | Fort Dodge | 24,827 | 8.0% | 21.0% |
| 22 | Manchester | 5,191 | 11.0% | 25.0% |
| 23 | Burlington | 23,728 | 7.0% | 22.0% |
| 24 | Cherokee | 5,154 | 8.0% | 24.0% |
| 25 | Creston | 7,435 | 8.0% | 24.0% |
| 26 | Des Moines | 212,421 | 13.0% | 30.0% |
| 27 | Anamosa | 5,629 | 5.0% | 19.0% |
| 28 | Le Mars | 10,640 | 6.0% | 22.0% |
| 29 | Spencer | 11,400 | 9.0% | 29.0% |
| 30 | Maquoketa | 6,075 | 4.0% | 20.0% |
| 31 | Spirit Lake | 5,518 | 7.0% | 26.0% |
| 32 | Sioux Center | 8,454 | 11.0% | 41.0% |
| 33 | Atlantic | 6,763 | 5.0% | 23.0% |
| 34 | Knoxville | 7,473 | 7.0% | 30.0% |
| 35 | Davenport | 100,913 | 7.0% | 30.0% |
| 36 | Washington | 7,290 | 5.0% | 24.0% |
| 37 | Oskaloosa | 11,504 | 6.0% | 26.0% |
| 38 | Hiawatha | 7,206 | 7.0% | 32.0% |
| 39 | Algona | 5,377 | 5.0% | 25.0% |
| 40 | Boone | 12,424 | 5.0% | 25.0% |
| 41 | Dubuque | 59,174 | 7.0% | 34.0% |
| 42 | Winterset | 5,416 | 2.0% | 21.0% |
| 43 | Carroll | 10,208 | 5.0% | 27.0% |
| 44 | Iowa Falls | 5,038 | 4.0% | 23.0% |
| 45 | Nevada | 6,983 | 5.0% | 29.0% |
| 46 | Independence | 6,164 | 4.0% | 25.0% |
| 47 | Cedar Rapids | 137,264 | 6.0% | 33.0% |
| 48 | Grinnell | 9,505 | 6.0% | 37.0% |
| 49 | Adel | 6,430 | 6.0% | 37.0% |
| 50 | Urbandale | 46,595 | 7.0% | 51.0% |
| 51 | Waverly | 10,494 | 5.0% | 44.0% |
| 52 | Sergeant Bluff | 5,171 | 4.0% | 37.0% |
| 53 | Altoona | 21,495 | 3.0% | 34.0% |
| 54 | Marion | 41,896 | 4.0% | 38.0% |
| 55 | Indianola | 16,044 | 3.0% | 35.0% |
| 56 | Bettendorf | 39,647 | 4.0% | 51.0% |
| 57 | Glenwood | 5,144 | -0.0% | 28.0% |
| 58 | Clear Lake | 7,607 | 1.0% | 31.0% |
| 59 | Clive | 19,012 | 5.0% | 61.0% |
| 60 | Pella | 10,720 | 3.0% | 48.0% |
| 61 | Coralville | 23,234 | 5.0% | 56.0% |
| 62 | Pleasant Hill | 11,136 | 1.0% | 36.0% |
| 63 | Bondurant | 8,560 | 3.0% | 52.0% |
| 64 | Decorah | 7,535 | 2.0% | 43.0% |
| 65 | West Des Moines | 71,083 | 4.0% | 55.0% |
| 66 | Norwalk | 14,183 | 1.0% | 40.0% |
| 67 | Cedar Falls | 40,888 | 2.0% | 51.0% |
| 68 | Waukee | 29,236 | 4.0% | 58.0% |
| 69 | Johnston | 24,384 | 3.0% | 58.0% |
| 70 | Fairfield | 9,456 | 2.0% | 53.0% |
| 71 | Windsor Heights | 5,143 | 0.0% | 47.0% |
| 72 | Asbury | 5,989 | 1.0% | 51.0% |
| 73 | Eldridge | 6,818 | 2.0% | 54.0% |
| 74 | North Liberty | 21,125 | 2.0% | 54.0% |
| 75 | Grimes | 16,366 | 1.0% | 52.0% |
| 76 | Ankeny | 72,615 | 1.0% | 53.0% |
| 77 | Ames | 67,669 | 2.0% | 66.0% |
| 78 | Tiffin | 5,737 | -1.0% | 64.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 78 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep
If you’re measuring the locations in Iowa where there are a high number of dropouts and adults who never received a formal education, this is an accurate ranking.
The dumbest cities in Iowa are Osceola, Estherville, Denison, Storm Lake, Perry, Red Oak, Marshalltown, Centerville, Keokuk, and Oelwein.
