Denison vs Dow City

A side-by-side comparison of Denison and Dow City: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Denison has the higher population (8,247 vs 384 in Dow City). Denison has the higher median household income ($63,850 vs $46,932 in Dow City). Denison has the higher median home value ($137,600 vs $130,200 in Dow City).

Population, income & housing

	Denison	Dow City
Population	8,247	384
Median age	34.0 yrs	48.3 yrs
Median household income	$63,850	$46,932
Median home value	$137,600	$130,200
Median gross rent	$770	$714
Housing units	3,187	179
Homeownership rate	74.1%	69.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.5%	3.8%
Unemployment rate	1.9%	0.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Denison	Dow City
Population	8,337 → 8,247 (-1.1%)	485 → 384 (-20.8%)
Median household income	$54,190 → $63,850 (+17.8%)	$33,500 → $46,932 (+40.1%)
Median home value	$93,600 → $137,600 (+47.0%)	$70,500 → $130,200 (+84.7%)
Median gross rent	$663 → $770 (+16.1%)	$568 → $714 (+25.7%)

Denison

Population

8,3378,247

Median household income

$54,190$63,850

Median home value

$93,600$137,600

Median gross rent

$663$770

Dow City

Population

485384

Median household income

$33,500$46,932

Median home value

$70,500$130,200

Median gross rent

$568$714

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Denison	Dow City
Under 5	5.5%	2.1%
5 to 17	22.7%	13.8%
18 to 24	10.6%	16.4%
25 to 34	12.7%	8.1%
35 to 44	11.9%	4.7%
45 to 54	11.8%	14.1%
55 to 64	11.5%	16.4%
65 to 74	7.3%	15.4%
75 and over	5.9%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Denison	Dow City
White (non-Hispanic)	43.6%	79.7%
Black or African American	2.9%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	3.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.4%	6.3%
Hispanic or Latino	48.7%	14.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Denison	Dow City
No high school diploma	24.8%	7.3%
High school graduate	32.6%	45.8%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	43.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	3.8%
Graduate or professional degree	3.8%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Denison	Dow City
Drove alone	70.9%	71.8%
Carpooled	16.5%	3.8%
Public transit	5.6%	0.0%
Walked	3.3%	23.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.9%	0.0%
Other means	0.8%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Denison	Dow City
1-unit, detached	62.3%	70.9%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	11.6%	17.9%
5 to 19 units	3.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	7.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	9.1%	6.1%

Poverty & households

	Denison	Dow City
Poverty rate	20.1%	15.1%
Average household size	2.62	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	13	16
Median year structure built	1973	1961