Postville vs Waterville

A side-by-side comparison of Postville and Waterville: population, income, housing, and more.

Postville and Waterville are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Postville has the higher population (2,787 vs 143 in Waterville). Waterville has the higher median household income ($48,750 vs $47,281 in Postville). Postville has the higher median home value ($100,300 vs $93,800 in Waterville).

Population, income & housing

	Postville	Waterville
Population	2,787	143
Median age	25.4 yrs	42.3 yrs
Median household income	$47,281	$48,750
Median home value	$100,300	$93,800
Median gross rent	$872	—
Housing units	980	59
Homeownership rate	55.5%	94.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.7%	5.2%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Postville	Waterville
Population	2,547 → 2,787 (+9.4%)	97 → 143 (+47.4%)
Median household income	$51,250 → $47,281 (-7.7%)	$50,000 → $48,750 (-2.5%)
Median home value	$84,200 → $100,300 (+19.1%)	$60,000 → $93,800 (+56.3%)
Median gross rent	$722 → $872 (+20.8%)	$488 → $575 (+17.8%)

Postville

Population

2,5472,787

Median household income

$51,250$47,281

Median home value

$84,200$100,300

Median gross rent

$722$872

Waterville

Population

97143

Median household income

$50,000$48,750

Median home value

$60,000$93,800

Median gross rent

$488$575

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Postville	Waterville
Under 5	8.0%	24.5%
5 to 17	28.7%	4.2%
18 to 24	13.0%	4.2%
25 to 34	8.8%	16.8%
35 to 44	14.7%	2.1%
45 to 54	6.5%	9.8%
55 to 64	7.5%	15.4%
65 to 74	5.1%	14.7%
75 and over	7.8%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Postville	Waterville
White (non-Hispanic)	45.4%	93.7%
Black or African American	10.7%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.0%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	41.6%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Postville	Waterville
No high school diploma	18.8%	10.4%
High school graduate	42.0%	41.7%
Some college or associate's	24.5%	42.7%
Bachelor's degree	8.1%	4.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	1.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Postville	Waterville
Drove alone	66.4%	81.0%
Carpooled	13.8%	5.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	8.4%	3.4%
Bicycle	2.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.5%	10.3%
Other means	0.2%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Postville	Waterville
1-unit, detached	67.4%	84.7%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	24.7%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	15.3%

Poverty & households

	Postville	Waterville
Poverty rate	25.6%	4.2%
Average household size	2.93	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	21	34
Median year structure built	1951	1938