Mason City vs Rockwell

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

Mason City and Rockwell 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 942 in Rockwell). Mason City has the higher median household income ($62,369 vs $58,850 in Rockwell). Rockwell has the higher median home value ($142,600 vs $130,000 in Mason City).

Population, income & housing

	Mason City	Rockwell
Population	27,135	942
Median age	43.0 yrs	47.3 yrs
Median household income	$62,369	$58,850
Median home value	$130,000	$142,600
Median gross rent	$874	$539
Housing units	14,117	423
Homeownership rate	67.6%	77.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.3%	15.2%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	0.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mason City	Rockwell
Population	27,200 → 27,135 (-0.2%)	888 → 942 (+6.1%)
Median household income	$50,397 → $62,369 (+23.8%)	$56,944 → $58,850 (+3.3%)
Median home value	$114,900 → $130,000 (+13.1%)	$125,000 → $142,600 (+14.1%)
Median gross rent	$723 → $874 (+20.9%)	$679 → $539 (-20.6%)

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

Rockwell

Population

888942

Median household income

$56,944$58,850

Median home value

$125,000$142,600

Median gross rent

$679$539

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mason City	Rockwell
Under 5	4.9%	6.2%
5 to 17	15.2%	16.9%
18 to 24	8.1%	8.6%
25 to 34	12.6%	8.2%
35 to 44	11.4%	8.8%
45 to 54	11.5%	14.1%
55 to 64	13.6%	7.9%
65 to 74	13.0%	15.7%
75 and over	9.7%	13.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mason City	Rockwell
White (non-Hispanic)	86.2%	92.0%
Black or African American	2.9%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.3%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	5.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mason City	Rockwell
No high school diploma	6.7%	1.9%
High school graduate	37.9%	49.8%
Some college or associate's	34.0%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	12.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	3.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mason City	Rockwell
Drove alone	79.1%	82.1%
Carpooled	10.8%	10.3%
Public transit	0.7%	0.0%
Walked	2.7%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	6.2%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mason City	Rockwell
1-unit, detached	76.2%	79.0%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	14.2%
20 or more units	6.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Mason City	Rockwell
Poverty rate	10.6%	15.0%
Average household size	2.08	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	14	21
Median year structure built	1955	1971