Alta vs Storm Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Alta and Storm Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Storm Lake has the higher population (11,275 vs 2,344 in Alta). Alta has the higher median household income ($66,118 vs $58,341 in Storm Lake). Storm Lake has the higher median home value ($163,600 vs $125,800 in Alta).

Population, income & housing

	Alta	Storm Lake
Population	2,344	11,275
Median age	37.6 yrs	31.2 yrs
Median household income	$66,118	$58,341
Median home value	$125,800	$163,600
Median gross rent	$915	$830
Housing units	881	4,291
Homeownership rate	79.9%	64.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.5%	18.9%
Unemployment rate	17.8%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alta	Storm Lake
Population	2,039 → 2,344 (+15.0%)	10,558 → 11,275 (+6.8%)
Median household income	$59,000 → $66,118 (+12.1%)	$50,565 → $58,341 (+15.4%)
Median home value	$111,000 → $125,800 (+13.3%)	$121,300 → $163,600 (+34.9%)
Median gross rent	$744 → $915 (+23.0%)	$695 → $830 (+19.4%)

Alta

Population

2,0392,344

Median household income

$59,000$66,118

Median home value

$111,000$125,800

Median gross rent

$744$915

Storm Lake

Population

10,55811,275

Median household income

$50,565$58,341

Median home value

$121,300$163,600

Median gross rent

$695$830

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alta	Storm Lake
Under 5	6.3%	7.4%
5 to 17	24.2%	20.1%
18 to 24	5.1%	13.4%
25 to 34	10.0%	13.4%
35 to 44	14.5%	13.5%
45 to 54	14.4%	9.2%
55 to 64	14.4%	9.7%
65 to 74	4.7%	7.4%
75 and over	6.4%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alta	Storm Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	56.3%	34.0%
Black or African American	7.4%	3.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	12.5%	14.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	2.1%	3.8%
Some other race	0.0%	0.5%
Two or more races	1.4%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	20.3%	41.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alta	Storm Lake
No high school diploma	11.5%	29.3%
High school graduate	41.6%	31.0%
Some college or associate's	26.4%	20.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.1%	12.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	6.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alta	Storm Lake
Drove alone	76.6%	61.2%
Carpooled	17.3%	23.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	9.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	4.5%	5.6%
Other means	0.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alta	Storm Lake
1-unit, detached	79.0%	62.2%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	2.6%	10.0%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	16.1%
20 or more units	5.9%	6.0%
Mobile home & other	8.2%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	Alta	Storm Lake
Poverty rate	7.4%	7.7%
Average household size	2.94	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	14	11
Median year structure built	1962	1968