Elgin vs West Union

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

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

West Union has the higher population (2,393 vs 848 in Elgin). Elgin has the higher median household income ($60,114 vs $50,909 in West Union). West Union has the higher median home value ($133,200 vs $87,300 in Elgin).

Population, income & housing

	Elgin	West Union
Population	848	2,393
Median age	44.1 yrs	42.0 yrs
Median household income	$60,114	$50,909
Median home value	$87,300	$133,200
Median gross rent	$634	$925
Housing units	395	1,305
Homeownership rate	82.9%	64.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.4%	24.9%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elgin	West Union
Population	628 → 848 (+35.0%)	2,545 → 2,393 (-6.0%)
Median household income	$50,682 → $60,114 (+18.6%)	$48,250 → $50,909 (+5.5%)
Median home value	$79,500 → $87,300 (+9.8%)	$100,400 → $133,200 (+32.7%)
Median gross rent	$518 → $634 (+22.4%)	$538 → $925 (+71.9%)

Elgin

Population

628848

Median household income

$50,682$60,114

Median home value

$79,500$87,300

Median gross rent

$518$634

West Union

Population

2,5452,393

Median household income

$48,250$50,909

Median home value

$100,400$133,200

Median gross rent

$538$925

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elgin	West Union
Under 5	3.9%	3.5%
5 to 17	17.9%	20.6%
18 to 24	10.7%	9.7%
25 to 34	8.8%	6.9%
35 to 44	9.8%	11.9%
45 to 54	11.3%	8.6%
55 to 64	12.9%	11.9%
65 to 74	16.3%	11.2%
75 and over	8.4%	15.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elgin	West Union
White (non-Hispanic)	95.0%	91.7%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.0%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	6.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elgin	West Union
No high school diploma	4.0%	6.4%
High school graduate	41.6%	37.0%
Some college or associate's	37.9%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	11.9%	16.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.5%	8.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elgin	West Union
Drove alone	81.8%	86.9%
Carpooled	4.5%	3.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.1%	4.8%
Other means	0.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elgin	West Union
1-unit, detached	82.0%	78.7%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	7.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	11.4%	6.5%

Poverty & households

	Elgin	West Union
Poverty rate	4.2%	12.8%
Average household size	2.42	2.05
Mean commute (minutes)	23	18
Median year structure built	1971	1960