Beacon vs New Sharon

A side-by-side comparison of Beacon and New Sharon: population, income, housing, and more.

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

New Sharon has the higher population (1,147 vs 497 in Beacon). New Sharon has the higher median household income ($60,000 vs $56,000 in Beacon). New Sharon has the higher median home value ($125,000 vs $76,200 in Beacon).

Population, income & housing

	Beacon	New Sharon
Population	497	1,147
Median age	40.4 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$56,000	$60,000
Median home value	$76,200	$125,000
Median gross rent	$729	$564
Housing units	220	637
Homeownership rate	86.2%	78.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	6.6%	21.9%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Beacon	New Sharon
Population	639 → 497 (-22.2%)	1,144 → 1,147 (+0.3%)
Median household income	$37,188 → $56,000 (+50.6%)	$65,341 → $60,000 (-8.2%)
Median home value	$67,500 → $76,200 (+12.9%)	$111,600 → $125,000 (+12.0%)
Median gross rent	$793 → $729 (-8.1%)	$488 → $564 (+15.6%)

Beacon

Population

639497

Median household income

$37,188$56,000

Median home value

$67,500$76,200

Median gross rent

$793$729

New Sharon

Population

1,1441,147

Median household income

$65,341$60,000

Median home value

$111,600$125,000

Median gross rent

$488$564

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Beacon	New Sharon
Under 5	3.4%	4.4%
5 to 17	19.1%	17.0%
18 to 24	10.3%	7.9%
25 to 34	6.6%	12.6%
35 to 44	13.5%	17.6%
45 to 54	13.1%	9.6%
55 to 64	15.9%	12.6%
65 to 74	9.7%	11.2%
75 and over	8.5%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Beacon	New Sharon
White (non-Hispanic)	88.1%	96.2%
Black or African American	2.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.6%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Beacon	New Sharon
No high school diploma	11.4%	4.7%
High school graduate	46.7%	38.5%
Some college or associate's	35.3%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree	5.7%	14.8%
Graduate or professional degree	0.9%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Beacon	New Sharon
Drove alone	79.6%	80.9%
Carpooled	19.3%	7.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.1%	9.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Beacon	New Sharon
1-unit, detached	63.2%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	12.2%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	4.6%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	36.8%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Beacon	New Sharon
Poverty rate	12.5%	11.2%
Average household size	2.28	2.08
Mean commute (minutes)	28	18
Median year structure built	1982	1957