Albia vs Melrose

A side-by-side comparison of Albia and Melrose: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Albia has the higher population (3,688 vs 139 in Melrose). Albia has the higher median household income ($67,791 vs $56,250 in Melrose).

Population, income & housing

	Albia	Melrose
Population	3,688	139
Median age	42.7 yrs	51.8 yrs
Median household income	$67,791	$56,250
Median home value	$132,500	—
Median gross rent	$803	—
Housing units	1,895	65
Homeownership rate	77.4%	98.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.4%	4.1%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	40.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Albia	Melrose
Population	3,727 → 3,688 (-1.0%)	141 → 139 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$46,332 → $67,791 (+46.3%)	$44,375 → $56,250 (+26.8%)
Median home value	$87,600 → $132,500 (+51.3%)	$69,400 → $56,100 (-19.2%)
Median gross rent	$543 → $803 (+47.9%)	—

Albia

Population

3,7273,688

Median household income

$46,332$67,791

Median home value

$87,600$132,500

Median gross rent

$543$803

Melrose

Population

141139

Median household income

$44,375$56,250

Median home value

$69,400$56,100

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Albia	Melrose
Under 5	8.0%	0.0%
5 to 17	15.8%	13.7%
18 to 24	7.6%	16.5%
25 to 34	13.0%	1.4%
35 to 44	7.0%	17.3%
45 to 54	13.9%	2.9%
55 to 64	12.7%	2.9%
65 to 74	11.1%	19.4%
75 and over	10.9%	25.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Albia	Melrose
White (non-Hispanic)	92.1%	89.2%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.6%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.3%	9.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Albia	Melrose
No high school diploma	4.9%	6.2%
High school graduate	39.3%	45.4%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	44.3%
Bachelor's degree	17.0%	4.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Albia	Melrose
Drove alone	80.3%	77.8%
Carpooled	5.5%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.6%	22.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.6%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Albia	Melrose
1-unit, detached	71.9%	93.8%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	13.2%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	2.2%	0.0%
20 or more units	3.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	7.2%	6.2%

Poverty & households

	Albia	Melrose
Poverty rate	10.9%	27.3%
Average household size	2.26	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	23	34
Median year structure built	1968	1938