Official Federal Data
Dallas County, Iowa
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA · Population 107,968
10 Sources
Updated September 10, 2026
$102,379 up from the baseline named below
Median Income (nominal) vs 2019
$80,734 national
3.1% up from the baseline named below
Unemployment vs 2024
4.3% national
$11.1B up from the baseline named below
GDP (nominal) real change vs 2023
51.5% up from the baseline named below
Bachelor's+ vs 2019
35.7% national
Demographics & Population
Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 · 5-Year Estimates
Household Income
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median Household (nominal)
$102,379 up from 2019 vs 2019
Per Capita
$54,385 up from 2019 vs 2019
Mean Household
$137,324 up from 2019 vs 2019
Median Household (cost-of-living adjusted)
$111,646 metro RPP 91.7
Poverty Rate
6.3% up from 2019 vs 2019
Median Income Comparison
Dallas County$102,379
Iowa$75,059
National$80,734
Cost-of-living adjustment uses the BEA all-items regional price parity for Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, 91.7 against a national average of 100 (2024). BEA publishes regional price parity at state and metropolitan level only; there is no county figure, so the metro index stands in for Dallas County and the adjusted median is an approximation. Per capita and mean household income above are nominal and carry no adjustment.
Population Profile
Source: Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024 · Table B01001, B02001, B03003
CohortsShare of total population
Under 18 · 26.6%
18-34 · 21.5%
35-54 · 29%
55-64 · 10.2%
65+ · 12.9%
Race & Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino is an ethnic category and overlaps with the race categories above.
Educational Attainment
Source: Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024 · Table B15003 · Population 25+
95.4%
High School+
National: 89.6%
up from national +5.8 pts vs national
51.5%
Bachelor's+
National: 35.7%
up from national +15.8 pts vs national
17.7%
Graduate+
National: 14.1%
up from national +3.6 pts vs national
Employment Overview
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
107,968
Population
61,013
Labor Force
Employed
59,614
Unemployment Rate BLS LAUS 2025 annual
3.1% up from 2024 +0.4 pts vs 2024
Mean Commute 5 min below national avg
21.2 min
Work From Home vs 15.1% national
20.2%
Labor Force and Employed are ACS 5-Year survey estimates; the Unemployment Rate above comes from BLS LAUS, a separate monthly survey with its own methodology. The two won't reconcile by subtracting one from the other.
Key Takeaways
- Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
- Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 8.3% below the national average, so the nominal median of $102,379 is worth $111,646 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
- Talent advantage: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment exceeds the national average by 15.8 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.
Economy & Industry
Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW · Bureau of Economic Analysis
$11.1B up from 2023 +3.8% vs 2023
Gross Domestic Product · 2024
+3.8% real (inflation-adjusted)
·
+7.4% nominal
· 2023 to 2024
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis · level and nominal change from CAGDP2 (current dollars); real change from CAGDP9 (chained 2017 dollars), both all-industry total. The two series agree in 2017, the chain reference year, and diverge by the amount of price change since.
91.7
Cost of Living · metro · Below Avg
Key Takeaways
- Largest private-sector industry: Finance and Insurance employs 16,562 workers (36.4% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $129,124. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 5,450 and is counted separately.
- Economic scale: Regional GDP of $11.1B (2024).
- Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $129,124 while Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation averages $23,776, a 5.4x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.
Source: BLS QCEW + BEA Regional GDP.
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Industry Concentration
Location Quotient measures regional specialization vs. national average. LQ > 1.0 = concentrated.
Cluster Depth
Source: BLS QCEW · Sub-sectors with LQ ≥ 1.5 indicate genuine cluster concentration
Concentrated Sub-Sectors
9 sub-sectors at LQ ≥ 1.5
Largest grouping among them is Finance & Insurance Cluster at 80% of the employment across all of them, which signals supply-chain fit for site selectors
20,625
Employment in the sub-sectors listed
9.19x
Peak sub-sector LQ
Sub-Sector Detail
Credit Intermediation and Related Activities
9.19x 9,017
Insurance Carriers and Related Activities
6.74x 6,701
Clothing, Clothing Accessories, Shoe, and Jewelry Retailers
2.80x 1,228
Animal Production and Aquaculture
2.22x 230
Securities, Commodity Contracts, Investments
1.84x 779
Gasoline Stations and Fuel Dealers
1.79x 720
Crop Production
1.70x 343
Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries
1.58x 1,151
Furniture, Home Furnishings, and Other Retailers
1.55x 456
Attraction Opportunities
LQ < 0.5 with ≥ 50 employed, screened against local siting constraints. Source: BLS QCEW
0.23x
Management of Companies and Enterprises
229 employed
Screened on industrial power cost, rail-truck intermodal access, land base.
Industrial electricity in Iowa costs 7.2¢/kWh against 8.62¢/kWh nationally (2025).
Iowa has 2 rail-truck intermodal terminals, the nearest 98 miles from the county.
Land area 588 sq mi, larger than 48% of US counties.
Sources: EIA, BTS NTAD, Census Gazetteer.
Key Takeaways
- Top specialization: Credit Intermediation and Related Activities concentrates at 9.19x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
- Cluster depth: 9 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, but 80% of the employment across them depends on one source of demand: finance and insurance. Read the count as depth within that single demand base rather than as spread across separate ones.
Source: BLS QCEW sub-sector Location Quotients.
Housing & Affordability
Census ACS · HUD Fair Market Rents FY2026
Housing Overview
Source: Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates · Tables B25001, B25077, B25064, B25004
$355,600 up from the baseline named below
Median Home Value vs 2019
$1,311 up from the baseline named below
Rent/Mo vs 2019
69% down from the baseline named below
Owner-Occ vs 2019
5.2% down from the baseline named below
Vacancy vs 2019
2.4% available
for rent or sale
for rent or sale
3.5x
Home Value to Income Ratio
vs. ~4.1x national average
HUD Fair Market Rents
HUD publishes these by FMR area, which may cover more than one county · Source: HUD · Fair Market Rents FY2026 · Affordability threshold and renter cost burden from Census ACS B25119, B25070
Studio
$1,063/mo
1 Bedroom
$1,109/mo
2 Bedroom
$1,318/mo
3 Bedroom
$1,794/mo
4 Bedroom
$1,841/mo
30% of monthly median renter household income (~$1,671/mo, from a renter median of $66,859) · rents above this line are typically considered cost-burdened.
Measured: 35.1% of renter households already pay 30% or more of income on rent, and 14.8% pay 50% or more.
Key Takeaways
- In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.5x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
- Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $66,859 can pay without cost burden (~$1,671/mo), and 35.1% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.
Source: Census ACS housing tables + HUD Fair Market Rents.
Workforce Pipeline
Labor force readiness, commuting, and workforce composition
Labor Market Overview
Source: Census ACS 2020-2024 · Tables B01001, B23001, B23025, B08303, B08301
65,399 up from the baseline named below
Working Age (18-64) vs 2019
Mean Commute 5 min below national avg
21.2 min
Work From Home vs 15.1% national
20.2%
Prime-Age Employed (25-54)
89.5%
of prime-age population
Prime-age rate numerator is civilian employed (B23001); the denominator is total population aged 25-54 (B01001), which also includes armed forces.
of population age 16 and over (81,986)
down from 2019 vs 2019
Education & Talent Pipeline
Source: Census ACS 2020-2024 · Table B15003 · College Scorecard
Bachelor's+
51.5% up from 2019 vs 2019
HS Diploma+
95.4% down from 2019 vs 2019
Institutions in Dallas County
2 institutions in Dallas County reporting credentials to College Scorecard
Credentials awarded in Dallas County
563/yr
435/yr
128/yr
Aging Workforce
Source: Census Bureau ACS · Derived from age & employment tables
16.8%
55-64 of working-age population (18-64)
Same cohort is 10.2% of total population, the basis used in the Demographics cohort chart.
Workforce by Occupation
Source: Census ACS 2020-2024 · Table C24010 · Civilian employed population 16+
Management / Professional
53.5%
Service
11%
Sales & Office
19.8%
Construction / Maint.
5.8%
Production / Transport
9.9%
Bars are drawn on a 0% to 60% axis, so bar length is proportional to actual share. Labels give each group's share of 59,614 employed workers.
Key Takeaways
- Healthy participation: 74.5% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
- Short commutes: 21.2-minute mean commute is a quality-of-life and labor-access advantage worth surfacing for site selectors.
- Talent pipeline: 2 institutions in Dallas County award 563 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.
Source: ACS workforce data and College Scorecard.
AI Insights
Sample output. Pulse AI analysis draws on 10 federal data sources.
Sample AI Insight
Dallas County shows strong potential for credit intermediation and related activities attraction, with a 9.19x concentration and 9,017 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.
Most of the employment across the concentrated sub-sectors traces back to a single source of demand. Finance and insurance accounts for 80% of it, with credit intermediation and related activities the largest single sub-sector at 43.7%. Recruitment that widens the demand base changes that exposure; recruitment inside the same base deepens it.
Industry Shift Analysis
Manufacturing Automation Risk
High
Healthcare Growth Forecast
+4.2% CAGR
Remote Work Migration
67/100
Prospect Match Scores
Advanced Manufacturing
92/100
Life Sciences
84/100
Data Centers
71/100
Illustrative example
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Data Sources
Updated from official federal government data.
Census ACS 5-Year2024
BLS QCEW2025 annual
BLS LAUS2025 annual
BEA Regional GDP2024
BEA Regional Price Parity2024
Census CBP2023
HUD Fair Market RentsFY2026
FCC Broadband Map2024
USAspending.govFY2026
College ScorecardAY 2022-23
American Community Survey figures on this page are 2020-2024 five-year averages rather than single-year counts. A five-year estimate pools 60 months of survey responses, so each value describes the period as a whole.
Frequently Asked Questions
Key economic and demographic figures for Dallas County, Iowa, from federal data sources.
What is the population of Dallas County, Iowa?
107,968 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates).
What is the median household income in Dallas County, Iowa?
$102,379 in nominal dollars (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates). Adjusted for local prices using the BEA all-items regional price parity for Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA (91.7 against a national average of 100), that is $111,646 at national average prices. BEA publishes regional price parity at metro level; there is no county-level figure.
What is the unemployment rate in Dallas County, Iowa?
3.1% (2025 annual average, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, LAUS).
What is the GDP of Dallas County, Iowa?
$11.1B (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, CAGDP2).
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