Barnes City vs Beacon

A side-by-side comparison of Barnes City and Beacon: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Beacon has the higher population (497 vs 140 in Barnes City). Beacon has the higher median household income ($56,000 vs $47,813 in Barnes City). Barnes City has the higher median home value ($100,000 vs $76,200 in Beacon).

Population, income & housing

	Barnes City	Beacon
Population	140	497
Median age	43.4 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$47,813	$56,000
Median home value	$100,000	$76,200
Median gross rent	$800	$729
Housing units	74	220
Homeownership rate	69.8%	86.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.9%	6.6%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barnes City	Beacon
Population	269 → 140 (-48.0%)	639 → 497 (-22.2%)
Median household income	$45,625 → $47,813 (+4.8%)	$37,188 → $56,000 (+50.6%)
Median home value	$62,500 → $100,000 (+60.0%)	$67,500 → $76,200 (+12.9%)
Median gross rent	$639 → $800 (+25.2%)	$793 → $729 (-8.1%)

Barnes City

Population

269140

Median household income

$45,625$47,813

Median home value

$62,500$100,000

Median gross rent

$639$800

Beacon

Population

639497

Median household income

$37,188$56,000

Median home value

$67,500$76,200

Median gross rent

$793$729

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barnes City	Beacon
Under 5	18.6%	3.4%
5 to 17	5.7%	19.1%
18 to 24	3.6%	10.3%
25 to 34	12.9%	6.6%
35 to 44	12.9%	13.5%
45 to 54	5.0%	13.1%
55 to 64	12.1%	15.9%
65 to 74	19.3%	9.7%
75 and over	10.0%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barnes City	Beacon
White (non-Hispanic)	97.1%	88.1%
Black or African American	0.0%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	2.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.1%	6.8%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barnes City	Beacon
No high school diploma	10.9%	11.4%
High school graduate	50.5%	46.7%
Some college or associate's	23.8%	35.3%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	5.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	0.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barnes City	Beacon
Drove alone	76.7%	79.6%
Carpooled	1.7%	19.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	6.7%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	15.0%	1.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barnes City	Beacon
1-unit, detached	77.0%	63.2%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	17.6%	36.8%

Poverty & households

	Barnes City	Beacon
Poverty rate	6.4%	12.5%
Average household size	2.22	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	24	28
Median year structure built	1938	1982