Fairbank vs Independence

A side-by-side comparison of Fairbank and Independence: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Independence has the higher population (6,149 vs 1,509 in Fairbank). Fairbank has the higher median household income ($100,172 vs $72,250 in Independence). Fairbank has the higher median home value ($173,200 vs $156,900 in Independence).

Population, income & housing

	Fairbank	Independence
Population	1,509	6,149
Median age	41.2 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$100,172	$72,250
Median home value	$173,200	$156,900
Median gross rent	$630	$769
Housing units	569	2,856
Homeownership rate	86.1%	70.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.9%	24.0%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	1.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairbank	Independence
Population	1,249 → 1,509 (+20.8%)	6,056 → 6,149 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$66,250 → $100,172 (+51.2%)	$54,097 → $72,250 (+33.6%)
Median home value	$139,900 → $173,200 (+23.8%)	$133,100 → $156,900 (+17.9%)
Median gross rent	$700 → $630 (-10.0%)	$746 → $769 (+3.1%)

Fairbank

Population

1,2491,509

Median household income

$66,250$100,172

Median home value

$139,900$173,200

Median gross rent

$700$630

Independence

Population

6,0566,149

Median household income

$54,097$72,250

Median home value

$133,100$156,900

Median gross rent

$746$769

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fairbank	Independence
Under 5	7.8%	6.3%
5 to 17	21.7%	16.3%
18 to 24	3.0%	7.2%
25 to 34	9.4%	13.8%
35 to 44	13.5%	12.0%
45 to 54	14.2%	12.6%
55 to 64	15.8%	11.2%
65 to 74	8.9%	10.9%
75 and over	5.7%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairbank	Independence
White (non-Hispanic)	91.3%	92.9%
Black or African American	0.4%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.8%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairbank	Independence
No high school diploma	6.1%	3.4%
High school graduate	37.8%	35.4%
Some college or associate's	36.1%	37.2%
Bachelor's degree	15.1%	14.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.8%	9.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairbank	Independence
Drove alone	83.6%	80.6%
Carpooled	1.7%	10.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.6%
Walked	0.1%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	11.8%	5.9%
Other means	2.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairbank	Independence
1-unit, detached	85.2%	71.0%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	4.2%	15.3%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	2.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	4.6%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	Fairbank	Independence
Poverty rate	2.5%	8.5%
Average household size	2.73	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	22	22
Median year structure built	1971	1968