Essex vs Shenandoah

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

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

Shenandoah has the higher population (4,913 vs 875 in Essex). Essex has the higher median household income ($57,344 vs $52,469 in Shenandoah). Shenandoah has the higher median home value ($110,000 vs $87,700 in Essex).

Population, income & housing

	Essex	Shenandoah
Population	875	4,913
Median age	48.0 yrs	44.1 yrs
Median household income	$57,344	$52,469
Median home value	$87,700	$110,000
Median gross rent	$681	$762
Housing units	416	2,492
Homeownership rate	78.9%	58.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.3%	18.2%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex	Shenandoah
Population	777 → 875 (+12.6%)	4,897 → 4,913 (+0.3%)
Median household income	$52,454 → $57,344 (+9.3%)	$42,675 → $52,469 (+23.0%)
Median home value	$73,700 → $87,700 (+19.0%)	$85,000 → $110,000 (+29.4%)
Median gross rent	$663 → $681 (+2.7%)	$663 → $762 (+14.9%)

Essex

Population

777875

Median household income

$52,454$57,344

Median home value

$73,700$87,700

Median gross rent

$663$681

Shenandoah

Population

4,8974,913

Median household income

$42,675$52,469

Median home value

$85,000$110,000

Median gross rent

$663$762

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex	Shenandoah
Under 5	3.8%	6.3%
5 to 17	15.3%	13.5%
18 to 24	8.1%	5.8%
25 to 34	10.2%	12.4%
35 to 44	7.4%	13.1%
45 to 54	16.1%	8.9%
55 to 64	15.3%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.5%	14.7%
75 and over	12.2%	11.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex	Shenandoah
White (non-Hispanic)	85.1%	93.1%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.9%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	13.9%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex	Shenandoah
No high school diploma	8.5%	6.7%
High school graduate	39.2%	46.5%
Some college or associate's	35.9%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	10.7%	13.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	4.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex	Shenandoah
Drove alone	90.3%	77.0%
Carpooled	5.5%	15.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.0%	4.7%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	0.7%	0.4%
Other means	0.5%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex	Shenandoah
1-unit, detached	83.7%	75.2%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	8.9%	11.5%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	2.2%
20 or more units	0.0%	10.6%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Essex	Shenandoah
Poverty rate	9.6%	22.0%
Average household size	2.22	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	20	16
Median year structure built	1951	1949