Clarinda vs Essex

A side-by-side comparison of Clarinda and Essex: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Clarinda has the higher population (5,366 vs 875 in Essex). Essex has the higher median household income ($57,344 vs $50,644 in Clarinda). Clarinda has the higher median home value ($112,200 vs $87,700 in Essex).

Population, income & housing

	Clarinda	Essex
Population	5,366	875
Median age	40.9 yrs	48.0 yrs
Median household income	$50,644	$57,344
Median home value	$112,200	$87,700
Median gross rent	$653	$681
Housing units	2,261	416
Homeownership rate	66.2%	78.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.7%	16.3%
Unemployment rate	9.0%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clarinda	Essex
Population	5,388 → 5,366 (-0.4%)	777 → 875 (+12.6%)
Median household income	$50,013 → $50,644 (+1.3%)	$52,454 → $57,344 (+9.3%)
Median home value	$93,300 → $112,200 (+20.3%)	$73,700 → $87,700 (+19.0%)
Median gross rent	$655 → $653 (-0.3%)	$663 → $681 (+2.7%)

Clarinda

Population

5,3885,366

Median household income

$50,013$50,644

Median home value

$93,300$112,200

Median gross rent

$655$653

Essex

Population

777875

Median household income

$52,454$57,344

Median home value

$73,700$87,700

Median gross rent

$663$681

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clarinda	Essex
Under 5	4.1%	3.8%
5 to 17	15.7%	15.3%
18 to 24	6.9%	8.1%
25 to 34	14.4%	10.2%
35 to 44	15.2%	7.4%
45 to 54	10.2%	16.1%
55 to 64	11.4%	15.3%
65 to 74	11.4%	11.5%
75 and over	10.7%	12.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clarinda	Essex
White (non-Hispanic)	84.1%	85.1%
Black or African American	4.5%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.0%
Asian	1.6%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.1%	0.9%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	13.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clarinda	Essex
No high school diploma	9.2%	8.5%
High school graduate	42.0%	39.2%
Some college or associate's	35.1%	35.9%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	10.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clarinda	Essex
Drove alone	74.1%	90.3%
Carpooled	12.5%	5.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.9%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.0%
Worked from home	5.3%	0.7%
Other means	5.1%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clarinda	Essex
1-unit, detached	72.3%	83.7%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	3.1%
2 to 4 units	13.3%	8.9%
5 to 19 units	6.9%	3.6%
20 or more units	2.3%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Clarinda	Essex
Poverty rate	11.6%	9.6%
Average household size	2.26	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	17	20
Median year structure built	1958	1951