Rockwell vs Thornton

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

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

Rockwell has the higher population (942 vs 534 in Thornton). Thornton has the higher median household income ($66,979 vs $58,850 in Rockwell). Rockwell has the higher median home value ($142,600 vs $99,000 in Thornton).

Population, income & housing

	Rockwell	Thornton
Population	942	534
Median age	47.3 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$58,850	$66,979
Median home value	$142,600	$99,000
Median gross rent	$539	$775
Housing units	423	246
Homeownership rate	77.5%	86.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.2%	19.9%
Unemployment rate	0.7%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rockwell	Thornton
Population	888 → 942 (+6.1%)	411 → 534 (+29.9%)
Median household income	$56,944 → $58,850 (+3.3%)	$48,542 → $66,979 (+38.0%)
Median home value	$125,000 → $142,600 (+14.1%)	$69,600 → $99,000 (+42.2%)
Median gross rent	$679 → $539 (-20.6%)	$541 → $775 (+43.3%)

Rockwell

Population

888942

Median household income

$56,944$58,850

Median home value

$125,000$142,600

Median gross rent

$679$539

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)

	Rockwell	Thornton
Under 5	6.2%	8.8%
5 to 17	16.9%	13.5%
18 to 24	8.6%	10.9%
25 to 34	8.2%	18.5%
35 to 44	8.8%	10.1%
45 to 54	14.1%	7.1%
55 to 64	7.9%	11.0%
65 to 74	15.7%	5.2%
75 and over	13.7%	14.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rockwell	Thornton
White (non-Hispanic)	92.0%	90.6%
Black or African American	2.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	0.0%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	5.9%	7.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rockwell	Thornton
No high school diploma	1.9%	4.8%
High school graduate	49.8%	31.9%
Some college or associate's	33.1%	43.4%
Bachelor's degree	12.0%	16.8%
Graduate or professional degree	3.3%	3.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rockwell	Thornton
Drove alone	82.1%	72.4%
Carpooled	10.3%	15.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.4%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.2%	5.6%
Other means	0.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rockwell	Thornton
1-unit, detached	79.0%	92.7%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	14.2%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Rockwell	Thornton
Poverty rate	15.0%	6.6%
Average household size	2.25	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	21	24
Median year structure built	1971	1955