Parkersburg vs Shell Rock

A side-by-side comparison of Parkersburg and Shell Rock: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Parkersburg has the higher population (1,747 vs 1,634 in Shell Rock). Parkersburg has the higher median household income ($73,482 vs $70,556 in Shell Rock). Parkersburg has the higher median home value ($200,000 vs $159,100 in Shell Rock).

Population, income & housing

	Parkersburg	Shell Rock
Population	1,747	1,634
Median age	46.7 yrs	36.8 yrs
Median household income	$73,482	$70,556
Median home value	$200,000	$159,100
Median gross rent	$695	$750
Housing units	886	666
Homeownership rate	80.8%	82.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.0%	17.8%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Parkersburg	Shell Rock
Population	1,940 → 1,747 (-9.9%)	1,445 → 1,634 (+13.1%)
Median household income	$55,304 → $73,482 (+32.9%)	$57,750 → $70,556 (+22.2%)
Median home value	$153,800 → $200,000 (+30.0%)	$118,900 → $159,100 (+33.8%)
Median gross rent	$572 → $695 (+21.5%)	$548 → $750 (+36.9%)

Parkersburg

Population

1,9401,747

Median household income

$55,304$73,482

Median home value

$153,800$200,000

Median gross rent

$572$695

Shell Rock

Population

1,4451,634

Median household income

$57,750$70,556

Median home value

$118,900$159,100

Median gross rent

$548$750

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Parkersburg	Shell Rock
Under 5	4.8%	8.6%
5 to 17	17.9%	19.8%
18 to 24	5.8%	7.4%
25 to 34	6.6%	12.2%
35 to 44	12.5%	14.0%
45 to 54	16.7%	10.5%
55 to 64	14.5%	10.5%
65 to 74	8.9%	10.0%
75 and over	12.2%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Parkersburg	Shell Rock
White (non-Hispanic)	93.9%	94.6%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.2%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	4.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Parkersburg	Shell Rock
No high school diploma	5.0%	10.3%
High school graduate	29.4%	33.0%
Some college or associate's	36.5%	39.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.4%	12.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.7%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Parkersburg	Shell Rock
Drove alone	86.1%	90.3%
Carpooled	3.0%	4.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.5%	4.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Parkersburg	Shell Rock
1-unit, detached	78.4%	87.7%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	9.5%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	5.5%	4.1%
20 or more units	1.8%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Parkersburg	Shell Rock
Poverty rate	7.2%	6.0%
Average household size	2.36	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	27	24
Median year structure built	1977	1955