Peterson vs Spencer

A side-by-side comparison of Peterson and Spencer: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Spencer has the higher population (11,393 vs 373 in Peterson). Peterson has the higher median household income ($76,875 vs $57,068 in Spencer). Spencer has the higher median home value ($178,300 vs $86,700 in Peterson).

Population, income & housing

	Peterson	Spencer
Population	373	11,393
Median age	37.6 yrs	41.3 yrs
Median household income	$76,875	$57,068
Median home value	$86,700	$178,300
Median gross rent	$850	$795
Housing units	202	5,640
Homeownership rate	87.3%	67.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.4%	28.2%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Peterson	Spencer
Population	407 → 373 (-8.4%)	11,052 → 11,393 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$60,357 → $76,875 (+27.4%)	$46,545 → $57,068 (+22.6%)
Median home value	$59,400 → $86,700 (+46.0%)	$128,800 → $178,300 (+38.4%)
Median gross rent	$700 → $850 (+21.4%)	$684 → $795 (+16.2%)

Peterson

Population

407373

Median household income

$60,357$76,875

Median home value

$59,400$86,700

Median gross rent

$700$850

Spencer

Population

11,05211,393

Median household income

$46,545$57,068

Median home value

$128,800$178,300

Median gross rent

$684$795

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Peterson	Spencer
Under 5	7.8%	4.5%
5 to 17	17.7%	18.3%
18 to 24	6.4%	7.5%
25 to 34	15.0%	11.1%
35 to 44	7.0%	12.9%
45 to 54	7.0%	11.1%
55 to 64	15.5%	13.2%
65 to 74	13.9%	10.9%
75 and over	9.7%	10.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Peterson	Spencer
White (non-Hispanic)	97.1%	90.4%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.6%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	5.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Peterson	Spencer
No high school diploma	5.1%	4.8%
High school graduate	30.7%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	41.7%	33.6%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	19.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.7%	8.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Peterson	Spencer
Drove alone	88.7%	79.3%
Carpooled	4.9%	8.6%
Public transit	0.0%	1.6%
Walked	1.0%	4.5%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	4.4%	5.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Peterson	Spencer
1-unit, detached	91.1%	67.2%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	9.2%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	10.7%
20 or more units	0.0%	9.3%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Peterson	Spencer
Poverty rate	2.7%	14.1%
Average household size	2.36	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	30	17
Median year structure built	1938	1971