Ely vs Hiawatha

A side-by-side comparison of Ely and Hiawatha: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Hiawatha has the higher population (7,178 vs 2,033 in Ely). Ely has the higher median household income ($102,262 vs $67,628 in Hiawatha). Ely has the higher median home value ($275,800 vs $210,200 in Hiawatha).

Population, income & housing

	Ely	Hiawatha
Population	2,033	7,178
Median age	37.6 yrs	33.4 yrs
Median household income	$102,262	$67,628
Median home value	$275,800	$210,200
Median gross rent	$1,014	$846
Housing units	801	3,197
Homeownership rate	81.9%	68.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.6%	32.4%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ely	Hiawatha
Population	2,227 → 2,033 (-8.7%)	7,333 → 7,178 (-2.1%)
Median household income	$94,009 → $102,262 (+8.8%)	$48,191 → $67,628 (+40.3%)
Median home value	$216,400 → $275,800 (+27.4%)	$143,500 → $210,200 (+46.5%)
Median gross rent	$737 → $1,014 (+37.6%)	$773 → $846 (+9.4%)

Ely

Population

2,2272,033

Median household income

$94,009$102,262

Median home value

$216,400$275,800

Median gross rent

$737$1,014

Hiawatha

Population

7,3337,178

Median household income

$48,191$67,628

Median home value

$143,500$210,200

Median gross rent

$773$846

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ely	Hiawatha
Under 5	8.7%	8.0%
5 to 17	19.4%	18.3%
18 to 24	4.1%	9.9%
25 to 34	14.1%	16.7%
35 to 44	16.7%	8.3%
45 to 54	10.6%	11.6%
55 to 64	14.2%	12.8%
65 to 74	10.6%	8.4%
75 and over	1.6%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ely	Hiawatha
White (non-Hispanic)	96.0%	80.9%
Black or African American	0.6%	3.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.1%	6.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.8%
Two or more races	1.3%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	3.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ely	Hiawatha
No high school diploma	2.5%	3.3%
High school graduate	27.1%	24.0%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	40.2%
Bachelor's degree	26.6%	22.4%
Graduate or professional degree	9.0%	10.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ely	Hiawatha
Drove alone	84.8%	84.0%
Carpooled	6.2%	5.9%
Public transit	0.9%	1.1%
Walked	1.5%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.2%	8.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ely	Hiawatha
1-unit, detached	79.9%	53.7%
1-unit, attached	7.1%	9.4%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	5.5%	14.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	5.1%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	9.2%

Poverty & households

	Ely	Hiawatha
Poverty rate	4.1%	15.7%
Average household size	2.57	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	21	15
Median year structure built	1998	1992