City safety & data profile
JohnstonIA
Johnston, IA is a 21K-resident city in Polk County with a median household income of $106,551.
Polk County, Iowa. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Johnston, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Johnston has a population larger than 46% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $369,100.
Data updated 2026-09-04
- 21K
- Population (place)
- Bottom 47%
- By size
- $106,551
- Median income (place)
- $369,100
- Median home (place)
- 10.2%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Johnston
Johnston posts a median household income higher than 74% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.
- Top 26%
- by median income, US cities
Where Johnston income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$106,551 Top 26% higher than 74% 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 Johnston, IA beyond the headline numbers
Johnston sits inside Polk County, Iowa, at roughly 41.67°N, -93.70°W. Population 20,871, $106,551 median household income. Median home value $369,100, median rent $1,338. Poverty rate 10.2%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
At 10.2%, poverty in Johnston, IA runs below the midpoint of reporting cities -- enough to matter locally, not enough to dominate the city's profile.
The median home in Johnston costs roughly 3.5 times median household income, below the midpoint for reporting cities, so ownership remains reachable on a typical local wage.
14% of Johnston workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.
Among the CDC measures on this page, binge drinking departs furthest from its peer median: 21.3% in Johnston, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
Public transit carries 0% of Johnston workers, a smaller share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Johnston 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): Johnston'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 | 10.2% -18% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 2.1% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 57.8% |
| Work From Home | 14% |
| Public Transit | 0% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
What alerts and safety updates affect Johnston?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Johnston right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet IA-JOHNSTON-IA · Johnston
Johnston: 2 tagged alerts; lead category NWS weather alert.
- VOL-TRACE 2 on record
- WX-LED 100% weather
- DESK-MIX NOAA
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ San Jose
Tagged alert mix: Johnston
Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag
- Weather Alerts
Weather Alerts
2
What this shows 2 tagged notices on record for Johnston.
Nearest tagged-volume peer: San Jose, CA (2 tagged · Δ0)
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Johnston; 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 (2 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 5
What is the population of Johnston, IA? ▼
What is the median household income in Johnston? ▼
What is the median home value in Johnston? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Johnston? ▼
What is the median age in Johnston? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Johnston, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside IA (10.2% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside IA ($106,551 here).
Compare Johnston 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 Johnston'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 Johnston 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 Johnston 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.