Cedar Rapids vs Fairfax

A side-by-side comparison of Cedar Rapids and Fairfax: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cedar Rapids has the higher population (136,859 vs 2,865 in Fairfax). Fairfax has the higher median household income ($120,552 vs $67,859 in Cedar Rapids). Fairfax has the higher median home value ($278,800 vs $177,100 in Cedar Rapids).

Population, income & housing

	Cedar Rapids	Fairfax
Population	136,859	2,865
Median age	36.9 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$67,859	$120,552
Median home value	$177,100	$278,800
Median gross rent	$925	$1,188
Housing units	63,669	1,009
Homeownership rate	68.2%	93.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.9%	36.9%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	1.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cedar Rapids	Fairfax
Population	132,301 → 136,859 (+3.4%)	2,680 → 2,865 (+6.9%)
Median household income	$58,511 → $67,859 (+16.0%)	$97,643 → $120,552 (+23.5%)
Median home value	$141,800 → $177,100 (+24.9%)	$221,400 → $278,800 (+25.9%)
Median gross rent	$767 → $925 (+20.6%)	$1,375 → $1,188 (-13.6%)

Cedar Rapids

Population

132,301136,859

Median household income

$58,511$67,859

Median home value

$141,800$177,100

Median gross rent

$767$925

Fairfax

Population

2,6802,865

Median household income

$97,643$120,552

Median home value

$221,400$278,800

Median gross rent

$1,375$1,188

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cedar Rapids	Fairfax
Under 5	5.7%	10.0%
5 to 17	15.8%	19.9%
18 to 24	10.5%	5.7%
25 to 34	15.0%	12.6%
35 to 44	13.5%	14.5%
45 to 54	11.4%	13.8%
55 to 64	11.8%	12.9%
65 to 74	9.3%	7.0%
75 and over	7.0%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cedar Rapids	Fairfax
White (non-Hispanic)	77.5%	87.2%
Black or African American	8.3%	2.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.8%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	5.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cedar Rapids	Fairfax
No high school diploma	5.9%	2.9%
High school graduate	25.9%	24.4%
Some college or associate's	35.3%	35.8%
Bachelor's degree	22.2%	25.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.7%	11.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cedar Rapids	Fairfax
Drove alone	77.0%	74.3%
Carpooled	6.5%	5.0%
Public transit	0.6%	0.8%
Walked	2.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.6%	20.0%
Other means	0.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cedar Rapids	Fairfax
1-unit, detached	62.1%	72.1%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	21.3%
2 to 4 units	6.2%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	14.3%	2.7%
20 or more units	9.3%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Cedar Rapids	Fairfax
Poverty rate	11.8%	5.1%
Average household size	2.27	2.91
Mean commute (minutes)	18	25
Median year structure built	1973	2004