Arnolds Park vs Spirit Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Arnolds Park and Spirit Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

Arnolds Park and Spirit Lake are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Spirit Lake has the higher population (5,469 vs 911 in Arnolds Park). Arnolds Park has the higher median household income ($84,659 vs $73,627 in Spirit Lake). Arnolds Park has the higher median home value ($407,600 vs $218,400 in Spirit Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Arnolds Park	Spirit Lake
Population	911	5,469
Median age	64.2 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$84,659	$73,627
Median home value	$407,600	$218,400
Median gross rent	$671	$885
Housing units	1,634	2,930
Homeownership rate	89.7%	66.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.8%	32.0%
Unemployment rate	0.5%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arnolds Park	Spirit Lake
Population	1,009 → 911 (-9.7%)	5,069 → 5,469 (+7.9%)
Median household income	$48,188 → $84,659 (+75.7%)	$54,293 → $73,627 (+35.6%)
Median home value	$225,000 → $407,600 (+81.2%)	$156,300 → $218,400 (+39.7%)
Median gross rent	$844 → $671 (-20.5%)	$848 → $885 (+4.4%)

Arnolds Park

Population

1,009911

Median household income

$48,188$84,659

Median home value

$225,000$407,600

Median gross rent

$844$671

Spirit Lake

Population

5,0695,469

Median household income

$54,293$73,627

Median home value

$156,300$218,400

Median gross rent

$848$885

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arnolds Park	Spirit Lake
Under 5	4.1%	4.9%
5 to 17	2.9%	16.0%
18 to 24	1.0%	9.1%
25 to 34	7.0%	13.3%
35 to 44	5.7%	13.0%
45 to 54	7.6%	9.3%
55 to 64	26.5%	10.1%
65 to 74	27.9%	14.4%
75 and over	17.5%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arnolds Park	Spirit Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	98.9%	90.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.2%
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%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.1%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.0%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arnolds Park	Spirit Lake
No high school diploma	1.5%	2.8%
High school graduate	25.6%	28.4%
Some college or associate's	33.0%	36.9%
Bachelor's degree	29.8%	24.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.0%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arnolds Park	Spirit Lake
Drove alone	77.8%	79.4%
Carpooled	10.6%	6.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.6%	10.2%
Other means	1.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arnolds Park	Spirit Lake
1-unit, detached	55.6%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	6.0%
5 to 19 units	7.7%	9.1%
20 or more units	11.1%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	16.5%	6.3%

Poverty & households

	Arnolds Park	Spirit Lake
Poverty rate	5.9%	7.0%
Average household size	1.79	1.97
Mean commute (minutes)	18	14
Median year structure built	1994	1977