Orleans vs Spirit Lake

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

Orleans 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 593 in Orleans). Spirit Lake has the higher median household income ($73,627 vs $66,058 in Orleans). Orleans has the higher median home value ($448,800 vs $218,400 in Spirit Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Orleans	Spirit Lake
Population	593	5,469
Median age	57.7 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$66,058	$73,627
Median home value	$448,800	$218,400
Median gross rent	$961	$885
Housing units	635	2,930
Homeownership rate	89.3%	66.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	40.0%	32.0%
Unemployment rate	9.4%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Orleans	Spirit Lake
Population	469 → 593 (+26.4%)	5,069 → 5,469 (+7.9%)
Median household income	$66,875 → $66,058 (-1.2%)	$54,293 → $73,627 (+35.6%)
Median home value	$387,500 → $448,800 (+15.8%)	$156,300 → $218,400 (+39.7%)
Median gross rent	$933 → $961 (+3.0%)	$848 → $885 (+4.4%)

Orleans

Population

469593

Median household income

$66,875$66,058

Median home value

$387,500$448,800

Median gross rent

$933$961

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)

	Orleans	Spirit Lake
Under 5	1.0%	4.9%
5 to 17	9.1%	16.0%
18 to 24	0.8%	9.1%
25 to 34	10.1%	13.3%
35 to 44	17.2%	13.0%
45 to 54	5.6%	9.3%
55 to 64	19.2%	10.1%
65 to 74	22.3%	14.4%
75 and over	14.7%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Orleans	Spirit Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	85.0%	90.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	13.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.3%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Orleans	Spirit Lake
No high school diploma	13.6%	2.8%
High school graduate	24.1%	28.4%
Some college or associate's	22.3%	36.9%
Bachelor's degree	27.1%	24.5%
Graduate or professional degree	12.9%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Orleans	Spirit Lake
Drove alone	90.6%	79.4%
Carpooled	0.9%	6.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.3%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.2%	10.2%
Other means	0.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Orleans	Spirit Lake
1-unit, detached	90.7%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	3.9%	6.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	9.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	6.3%

Poverty & households

	Orleans	Spirit Lake
Poverty rate	1.9%	7.0%
Average household size	1.98	1.97
Mean commute (minutes)	19	14
Median year structure built	1973	1977