City safety & data profile
Des MoinesIA
Des Moines, IA is a 214K-resident city in Polk County with a median household income of $65,932.
Polk County, Iowa. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Des Moines, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Des Moines has a population larger than 98% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $194,700, and 4 hospitals serving the surrounding area.
Data updated 2026-09-04
- 214K
- Population (place)
- Top 2%
- By size
- $65,932
- Median income (place)
- $194,700
- Median home (place)
- 15%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Des Moines
Des Moines posts a median household income higher than 31% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 4 hospitals serve the Des Moines area.
- Bottom 32%
- by median income, US cities
- 4
- hospitals in & near Des Moines
Where Des Moines income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$65,932 Bottom 31% higher than 31% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. 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, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in IA
Population among 40 IA places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Des Moines
Des Moines, IA
214,133 residents
- Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids, IA
130,405 residents
- Davenport
Davenport, IA
102,582 residents
- Sioux City 82,821
Sioux City, IA
82,821 residents
- Iowa City 74,220
Iowa City, IA
74,220 residents
- Waterloo 68,460
Waterloo, IA
68,460 residents
- Ames 65,060
Ames, IA
65,060 residents
- West Des Moi… 64,113
West Des Moines, IA
64,113 residents
- Council Bluffs 62,597
Council Bluffs, IA
62,597 residents
- Dubuque 58,799
Dubuque, IA
58,799 residents
What this shows Des Moines is the largest IA city on this list; Clive leads median income.
Highest median incomes in IA
Median household income among the same 40-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Clive
Clive, IA
$132,121 median
- Grimes
Grimes, IA
$120,037 median
- Urbandale
Urbandale, IA
$112,795 median
- Ankeny
Ankeny, IA
$108,198 median
- Johnston
Johnston, IA
$106,551 median
- Norwalk
Norwalk, IA
$102,722 median
- North Liberty
North Liberty, IA
$102,102 median
- Waukee
Waukee, IA
$101,029 median
- Bettendorf
Bettendorf, IA
$100,495 median
- Marion
Marion, IA
$86,743 median
What this shows Clive posts the highest place-level median income in IA; Des Moines is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading Des Moines, IA beyond the headline numbers
Des Moines sits inside Polk County, Iowa, at roughly 41.60°N, -93.61°W. Population 214,133, $65,932 median household income. Median home value $194,700, median rent $1,090. Poverty rate 15%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
4 hospitals in/around Des Moines, 2.8/5 avg rating, 4 with an ER.
Poverty in Des Moines, IA stands at 15%, above the midpoint of reporting cities. A median income can look comfortable while a share this size sits well beneath it, which is why the two figures belong together.
Housing is inexpensive against local pay -- the median home in Des Moines runs about 3.0 years of median household income, in the cheapest quarter of reporting cities.
13.1% of Des Moines workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.
Among the CDC measures on this page, binge drinking departs furthest from its peer median: 19.8% in Des Moines, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
Des Moines's median age is 34.6 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Des Moines from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (Polk County): Des Moines's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 15% +21% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 5.6% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 29.7% |
| Work From Home | 13.1% |
| Public Transit | 0.8% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Hospitals 4 total
What alerts and safety updates affect Des Moines?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Des Moines right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet IA-DES-MOINES-IA · Des Moines
Des Moines: 1 tagged alert; lead category NWS weather alert.
- VOL-TRACE 1 on record
- WX-LED 100% weather
- DESK-MIX NOAA
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Houston
Tagged alert mix: Des Moines
Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag
- Weather Alerts
Weather Alerts
1
What this shows 1 tagged notice on record for Des Moines.
Nearest tagged-volume peer: Houston, TX (1 tagged · Δ0)
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Des Moines; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Iowa state hubs · Methodology
Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4
Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (1 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 6
What is the population of Des Moines, IA? ▼
What is the median household income in Des Moines? ▼
What is the median home value in Des Moines? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Des Moines? ▼
How many hospitals are in Des Moines? ▼
What is the median age in Des Moines? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Des Moines, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside IA (15% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside IA ($65,932 here).
Compare Des Moines with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using Des Moines's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Des Moines area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare Des Moines against Iowa peers on any ranking lens. Explore Iowa
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Polk County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.