Cedar Falls vs Waterloo

A side-by-side comparison of Cedar Falls and Waterloo: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Waterloo has the higher population (66,947 vs 40,662 in Cedar Falls). Cedar Falls has the higher median household income ($74,165 vs $56,344 in Waterloo). Cedar Falls has the higher median home value ($252,500 vs $150,200 in Waterloo).

Population, income & housing

	Cedar Falls	Waterloo
Population	40,662	66,947
Median age	29.8 yrs	36.6 yrs
Median household income	$74,165	$56,344
Median home value	$252,500	$150,200
Median gross rent	$1,177	$896
Housing units	16,612	32,170
Homeownership rate	62.6%	61.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	49.2%	22.6%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cedar Falls	Waterloo
Population	40,983 → 40,662 (-0.8%)	67,912 → 66,947 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$61,420 → $74,165 (+20.8%)	$47,327 → $56,344 (+19.1%)
Median home value	$189,100 → $252,500 (+33.5%)	$117,400 → $150,200 (+27.9%)
Median gross rent	$875 → $1,177 (+34.5%)	$765 → $896 (+17.1%)

Cedar Falls

Population

40,98340,662

Median household income

$61,420$74,165

Median home value

$189,100$252,500

Median gross rent

$875$1,177

Waterloo

Population

67,91266,947

Median household income

$47,327$56,344

Median home value

$117,400$150,200

Median gross rent

$765$896

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cedar Falls	Waterloo
Under 5	4.8%	7.3%
5 to 17	12.6%	17.2%
18 to 24	26.4%	9.4%
25 to 34	11.9%	13.8%
35 to 44	10.7%	13.0%
45 to 54	8.6%	10.3%
55 to 64	8.3%	12.3%
65 to 74	8.9%	10.0%
75 and over	7.8%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cedar Falls	Waterloo
White (non-Hispanic)	89.9%	67.1%
Black or African American	1.5%	16.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	3.3%	2.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	1.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	7.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cedar Falls	Waterloo
No high school diploma	2.6%	9.4%
High school graduate	20.4%	35.3%
Some college or associate's	27.9%	32.7%
Bachelor's degree	27.9%	15.6%
Graduate or professional degree	21.3%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cedar Falls	Waterloo
Drove alone	75.0%	77.8%
Carpooled	6.2%	12.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.4%
Walked	6.8%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.4%
Worked from home	11.0%	7.1%
Other means	0.3%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cedar Falls	Waterloo
1-unit, detached	60.5%	68.7%
1-unit, attached	6.9%	4.3%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	12.9%	11.4%
20 or more units	9.8%	6.0%
Mobile home & other	3.2%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	Cedar Falls	Waterloo
Poverty rate	15.6%	16.4%
Average household size	2.39	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	14	16
Median year structure built	1975	1961