Mason City vs Thornton

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

Mason City and Thornton 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 534 in Thornton). Thornton has the higher median household income ($66,979 vs $62,369 in Mason City). Mason City has the higher median home value ($130,000 vs $99,000 in Thornton).

Population, income & housing

	Mason City	Thornton
Population	27,135	534
Median age	43.0 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$62,369	$66,979
Median home value	$130,000	$99,000
Median gross rent	$874	$775
Housing units	14,117	246
Homeownership rate	67.6%	86.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.3%	19.9%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mason City	Thornton
Population	27,200 → 27,135 (-0.2%)	411 → 534 (+29.9%)
Median household income	$50,397 → $62,369 (+23.8%)	$48,542 → $66,979 (+38.0%)
Median home value	$114,900 → $130,000 (+13.1%)	$69,600 → $99,000 (+42.2%)
Median gross rent	$723 → $874 (+20.9%)	$541 → $775 (+43.3%)

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

Thornton

Population

411534

Median household income

$48,542$66,979

Median home value

$69,600$99,000

Median gross rent

$541$775

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mason City	Thornton
Under 5	4.9%	8.8%
5 to 17	15.2%	13.5%
18 to 24	8.1%	10.9%
25 to 34	12.6%	18.5%
35 to 44	11.4%	10.1%
45 to 54	11.5%	7.1%
55 to 64	13.6%	11.0%
65 to 74	13.0%	5.2%
75 and over	9.7%	14.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mason City	Thornton
White (non-Hispanic)	86.2%	90.6%
Black or African American	2.9%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.3%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	7.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mason City	Thornton
No high school diploma	6.7%	4.8%
High school graduate	37.9%	31.9%
Some college or associate's	34.0%	43.4%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	16.8%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	3.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mason City	Thornton
Drove alone	79.1%	72.4%
Carpooled	10.8%	15.3%
Public transit	0.7%	0.0%
Walked	2.7%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	5.6%
Other means	0.9%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mason City	Thornton
1-unit, detached	76.2%	92.7%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	6.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.7%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Mason City	Thornton
Poverty rate	10.6%	6.6%
Average household size	2.08	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	14	24
Median year structure built	1955	1955