Dow City vs Vail

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

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

Vail has the higher population (431 vs 384 in Dow City). Vail has the higher median household income ($66,458 vs $46,932 in Dow City). Dow City has the higher median home value ($130,200 vs $82,100 in Vail).

Population, income & housing

	Dow City	Vail
Population	384	431
Median age	48.3 yrs	35.8 yrs
Median household income	$46,932	$66,458
Median home value	$130,200	$82,100
Median gross rent	$714	$665
Housing units	179	159
Homeownership rate	69.8%	92.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	3.8%	15.9%
Unemployment rate	0.9%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dow City	Vail
Population	485 → 384 (-20.8%)	532 → 431 (-19.0%)
Median household income	$33,500 → $46,932 (+40.1%)	$47,232 → $66,458 (+40.7%)
Median home value	$70,500 → $130,200 (+84.7%)	$61,000 → $82,100 (+34.6%)
Median gross rent	$568 → $714 (+25.7%)	$606 → $665 (+9.7%)

Dow City

Population

485384

Median household income

$33,500$46,932

Median home value

$70,500$130,200

Median gross rent

$568$714

Vail

Population

532431

Median household income

$47,232$66,458

Median home value

$61,000$82,100

Median gross rent

$606$665

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dow City	Vail
Under 5	2.1%	4.6%
5 to 17	13.8%	31.1%
18 to 24	16.4%	7.2%
25 to 34	8.1%	6.5%
35 to 44	4.7%	10.7%
45 to 54	14.1%	15.8%
55 to 64	16.4%	10.9%
65 to 74	15.4%	6.5%
75 and over	9.1%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dow City	Vail
White (non-Hispanic)	79.7%	58.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.5%
Two or more races	6.3%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	14.1%	39.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dow City	Vail
No high school diploma	7.3%	23.2%
High school graduate	45.8%	35.0%
Some college or associate's	43.1%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	3.8%	14.6%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	1.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dow City	Vail
Drove alone	71.8%	81.5%
Carpooled	3.8%	10.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	23.5%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	6.9%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dow City	Vail
1-unit, detached	70.9%	90.6%
1-unit, attached	5.0%	6.9%
2 to 4 units	17.9%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	1.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.1%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Dow City	Vail
Poverty rate	15.1%	24.4%
Average household size	2.27	3.34
Mean commute (minutes)	16	27
Median year structure built	1961	1938