Elgin vs Oelwein

A side-by-side comparison of Elgin and Oelwein: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Oelwein has the higher population (5,878 vs 848 in Elgin). Elgin has the higher median household income ($60,114 vs $49,821 in Oelwein). Oelwein has the higher median home value ($96,800 vs $87,300 in Elgin).

Population, income & housing

	Elgin	Oelwein
Population	848	5,878
Median age	44.1 yrs	44.0 yrs
Median household income	$60,114	$49,821
Median home value	$87,300	$96,800
Median gross rent	$634	$762
Housing units	395	2,911
Homeownership rate	82.9%	76.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.4%	16.1%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	7.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elgin	Oelwein
Population	628 → 848 (+35.0%)	5,979 → 5,878 (-1.7%)
Median household income	$50,682 → $60,114 (+18.6%)	$41,849 → $49,821 (+19.0%)
Median home value	$79,500 → $87,300 (+9.8%)	$82,200 → $96,800 (+17.8%)
Median gross rent	$518 → $634 (+22.4%)	$650 → $762 (+17.2%)

Elgin

Population

628848

Median household income

$50,682$60,114

Median home value

$79,500$87,300

Median gross rent

$518$634

Oelwein

Population

5,9795,878

Median household income

$41,849$49,821

Median home value

$82,200$96,800

Median gross rent

$650$762

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elgin	Oelwein
Under 5	3.9%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.9%	15.0%
18 to 24	10.7%	5.4%
25 to 34	8.8%	12.7%
35 to 44	9.8%	13.0%
45 to 54	11.3%	10.5%
55 to 64	12.9%	15.8%
65 to 74	16.3%	11.6%
75 and over	8.4%	10.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elgin	Oelwein
White (non-Hispanic)	95.0%	89.6%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.0%	5.8%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elgin	Oelwein
No high school diploma	4.0%	8.9%
High school graduate	41.6%	47.2%
Some college or associate's	37.9%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	11.9%	9.0%
Graduate or professional degree	4.5%	7.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elgin	Oelwein
Drove alone	81.8%	80.9%
Carpooled	4.5%	8.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	3.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.0%
Worked from home	13.1%	6.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elgin	Oelwein
1-unit, detached	82.0%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	9.3%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	3.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	11.4%	2.4%

Poverty & households

	Elgin	Oelwein
Poverty rate	4.2%	17.1%
Average household size	2.42	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	23	21
Median year structure built	1971	1949