Mason City vs Plymouth

A side-by-side comparison of Mason City and Plymouth: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mason City has the higher population (27,135 vs 405 in Plymouth). Plymouth has the higher median household income ($66,250 vs $62,369 in Mason City). Mason City has the higher median home value ($130,000 vs $105,200 in Plymouth).

Population, income & housing

	Mason City	Plymouth
Population	27,135	405
Median age	43.0 yrs	38.0 yrs
Median household income	$62,369	$66,250
Median home value	$130,000	$105,200
Median gross rent	$874	$830
Housing units	14,117	182
Homeownership rate	67.6%	78.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.3%	10.8%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	0.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mason City	Plymouth
Population	27,200 → 27,135 (-0.2%)	447 → 405 (-9.4%)
Median household income	$50,397 → $62,369 (+23.8%)	$60,917 → $66,250 (+8.8%)
Median home value	$114,900 → $130,000 (+13.1%)	$82,500 → $105,200 (+27.5%)
Median gross rent	$723 → $874 (+20.9%)	$685 → $830 (+21.2%)

Mason City

Population

27,20027,135

Median household income

$50,397$62,369

Median home value

$114,900$130,000

Median gross rent

$723$874

Plymouth

Population

447405

Median household income

$60,917$66,250

Median home value

$82,500$105,200

Median gross rent

$685$830

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mason City	Plymouth
Under 5	4.9%	6.2%
5 to 17	15.2%	22.5%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.2%
25 to 34	12.6%	10.4%
35 to 44	11.4%	17.5%
45 to 54	11.5%	9.4%
55 to 64	13.6%	13.3%
65 to 74	13.0%	8.9%
75 and over	9.7%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mason City	Plymouth
White (non-Hispanic)	86.2%	97.5%
Black or African American	2.9%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.3%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	0.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mason City	Plymouth
No high school diploma	6.7%	2.7%
High school graduate	37.9%	39.2%
Some college or associate's	34.0%	47.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	9.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	1.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mason City	Plymouth
Drove alone	79.1%	81.2%
Carpooled	10.8%	11.3%
Public transit	0.7%	0.0%
Walked	2.7%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	5.6%
Other means	0.9%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mason City	Plymouth
1-unit, detached	76.2%	89.6%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	2.7%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	6.6%
20 or more units	6.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.7%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Mason City	Plymouth
Poverty rate	10.6%	7.7%
Average household size	2.08	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	14	21
Median year structure built	1955	1951