Mechanicsville vs West Branch

A side-by-side comparison of Mechanicsville and West Branch: population, income, housing, and more.

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

West Branch has the higher population (2,526 vs 906 in Mechanicsville). West Branch has the higher median household income ($87,891 vs $76,190 in Mechanicsville). West Branch has the higher median home value ($226,700 vs $155,500 in Mechanicsville).

Population, income & housing

	Mechanicsville	West Branch
Population	906	2,526
Median age	52.1 yrs	34.7 yrs
Median household income	$76,190	$87,891
Median home value	$155,500	$226,700
Median gross rent	$542	$958
Housing units	429	1,004
Homeownership rate	85.0%	78.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.0%	28.7%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	0.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mechanicsville	West Branch
Population	1,126 → 906 (-19.5%)	2,249 → 2,526 (+12.3%)
Median household income	$64,704 → $76,190 (+17.8%)	$61,964 → $87,891 (+41.8%)
Median home value	$105,900 → $155,500 (+46.8%)	$159,800 → $226,700 (+41.9%)
Median gross rent	$750 → $542 (-27.7%)	$769 → $958 (+24.6%)

Mechanicsville

Population

1,126906

Median household income

$64,704$76,190

Median home value

$105,900$155,500

Median gross rent

$750$542

West Branch

Population

2,2492,526

Median household income

$61,964$87,891

Median home value

$159,800$226,700

Median gross rent

$769$958

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mechanicsville	West Branch
Under 5	1.8%	7.4%
5 to 17	8.9%	20.7%
18 to 24	8.6%	10.5%
25 to 34	5.3%	11.7%
35 to 44	14.5%	17.8%
45 to 54	16.3%	7.7%
55 to 64	14.5%	9.9%
65 to 74	21.9%	7.6%
75 and over	8.3%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mechanicsville	West Branch
White (non-Hispanic)	93.9%	90.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.8%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.2%	5.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mechanicsville	West Branch
No high school diploma	6.8%	3.9%
High school graduate	37.1%	32.4%
Some college or associate's	39.1%	35.0%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	19.6%
Graduate or professional degree	2.2%	9.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mechanicsville	West Branch
Drove alone	76.4%	83.3%
Carpooled	3.8%	4.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.9%
Walked	0.0%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	19.8%	10.0%
Other means	0.0%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mechanicsville	West Branch
1-unit, detached	78.1%	58.4%
1-unit, attached	10.0%	11.0%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	0.7%	11.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	7.5%	12.0%

Poverty & households

	Mechanicsville	West Branch
Poverty rate	7.6%	11.1%
Average household size	2.13	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	29	23
Median year structure built	1961	1994