Columbus City vs Cotter

A side-by-side comparison of Columbus City and Cotter: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Columbus City has the higher population (306 vs 23 in Cotter). Cotter has the higher median home value ($108,300 vs $104,400 in Columbus City). Since 2019, Columbus City's population has grown faster (-11.3% vs -34.3%).

Population, income & housing

	Columbus City	Cotter
Population	306	23
Median age	51.5 yrs	50.5 yrs
Median household income	$82,500	—
Median home value	$104,400	$108,300
Housing units	134	14
Homeownership rate	97.0%	88.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	3.4%	0.0%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbus City	Cotter
Population	345 → 306 (-11.3%)	35 → 23 (-34.3%)
Median household income	$51,354 → $82,500 (+60.6%)	$77,083 → $80,625 (+4.6%)
Median home value	$85,800 → $104,400 (+21.7%)	$60,000 → $108,300 (+80.5%)

Columbus City

Population

345306

Median household income

$51,354$82,500

Median home value

$85,800$104,400

Cotter

Population

3523

Median household income

$77,083$80,625

Median home value

$60,000$108,300

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbus City	Cotter
Under 5	4.2%	8.7%
5 to 17	11.4%	21.7%
18 to 24	8.2%	0.0%
25 to 34	10.5%	13.0%
35 to 44	10.1%	4.3%
45 to 54	10.1%	8.7%
55 to 64	22.9%	13.0%
65 to 74	12.7%	26.1%
75 and over	9.8%	4.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbus City	Cotter
White (non-Hispanic)	47.7%	91.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	52.3%	8.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbus City	Cotter
No high school diploma	27.0%	12.5%
High school graduate	44.6%	56.3%
Some college or associate's	24.9%	31.3%
Bachelor's degree	2.6%	0.0%
Graduate or professional degree	0.9%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbus City	Cotter
Drove alone	69.4%	75.0%
Carpooled	28.1%	25.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.5%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbus City	Cotter
1-unit, detached	75.4%	85.7%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	14.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	24.6%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Columbus City	Cotter
Poverty rate	4.9%	27.3%
Average household size	2.28	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	28	23
Median year structure built	1968	1960