Fairfax vs Hiawatha

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

Fairfax 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 2,865 in Fairfax). Fairfax has the higher median household income ($120,552 vs $67,628 in Hiawatha). Fairfax has the higher median home value ($278,800 vs $210,200 in Hiawatha).

Population, income & housing

	Fairfax	Hiawatha
Population	2,865	7,178
Median age	37.1 yrs	33.4 yrs
Median household income	$120,552	$67,628
Median home value	$278,800	$210,200
Median gross rent	$1,188	$846
Housing units	1,009	3,197
Homeownership rate	93.2%	68.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	32.4%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairfax	Hiawatha
Population	2,680 → 2,865 (+6.9%)	7,333 → 7,178 (-2.1%)
Median household income	$97,643 → $120,552 (+23.5%)	$48,191 → $67,628 (+40.3%)
Median home value	$221,400 → $278,800 (+25.9%)	$143,500 → $210,200 (+46.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,375 → $1,188 (-13.6%)	$773 → $846 (+9.4%)

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

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)

	Fairfax	Hiawatha
Under 5	10.0%	8.0%
5 to 17	19.9%	18.3%
18 to 24	5.7%	9.9%
25 to 34	12.6%	16.7%
35 to 44	14.5%	8.3%
45 to 54	13.8%	11.6%
55 to 64	12.9%	12.8%
65 to 74	7.0%	8.4%
75 and over	3.7%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairfax	Hiawatha
White (non-Hispanic)	87.2%	80.9%
Black or African American	2.9%	3.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	6.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.2%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	5.5%	3.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairfax	Hiawatha
No high school diploma	2.9%	3.3%
High school graduate	24.4%	24.0%
Some college or associate's	35.8%	40.2%
Bachelor's degree	25.5%	22.4%
Graduate or professional degree	11.4%	10.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairfax	Hiawatha
Drove alone	74.3%	84.0%
Carpooled	5.0%	5.9%
Public transit	0.8%	1.1%
Walked	0.0%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	20.0%	8.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairfax	Hiawatha
1-unit, detached	72.1%	53.7%
1-unit, attached	21.3%	9.4%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	2.7%	14.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	5.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	9.2%

Poverty & households

	Fairfax	Hiawatha
Poverty rate	5.1%	15.7%
Average household size	2.91	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	25	15
Median year structure built	2004	1992