Emmetsburg vs Ruthven

A side-by-side comparison of Emmetsburg and Ruthven: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Emmetsburg has the higher population (3,651 vs 766 in Ruthven). Ruthven has the higher median household income ($58,750 vs $57,353 in Emmetsburg). Emmetsburg has the higher median home value ($114,600 vs $103,400 in Ruthven).

Population, income & housing

	Emmetsburg	Ruthven
Population	3,651	766
Median age	45.0 yrs	36.6 yrs
Median household income	$57,353	$58,750
Median home value	$114,600	$103,400
Median gross rent	$589	$650
Housing units	1,824	334
Homeownership rate	69.9%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%	15.4%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	1.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Emmetsburg	Ruthven
Population	3,728 → 3,651 (-2.1%)	751 → 766 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$49,563 → $57,353 (+15.7%)	$37,337 → $58,750 (+57.4%)
Median home value	$112,900 → $114,600 (+1.5%)	$59,900 → $103,400 (+72.6%)
Median gross rent	$620 → $589 (-5.0%)	$486 → $650 (+33.7%)

Emmetsburg

Population

3,7283,651

Median household income

$49,563$57,353

Median home value

$112,900$114,600

Median gross rent

$620$589

Ruthven

Population

751766

Median household income

$37,337$58,750

Median home value

$59,900$103,400

Median gross rent

$486$650

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Emmetsburg	Ruthven
Under 5	5.8%	6.5%
5 to 17	14.3%	21.5%
18 to 24	10.5%	8.4%
25 to 34	9.2%	12.3%
35 to 44	10.2%	9.8%
45 to 54	10.5%	13.4%
55 to 64	13.5%	11.7%
65 to 74	12.4%	10.1%
75 and over	13.6%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Emmetsburg	Ruthven
White (non-Hispanic)	96.2%	81.7%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.8%	9.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	7.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Emmetsburg	Ruthven
No high school diploma	8.0%	6.0%
High school graduate	33.2%	36.1%
Some college or associate's	42.0%	42.5%
Bachelor's degree	11.5%	14.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	0.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Emmetsburg	Ruthven
Drove alone	76.3%	72.3%
Carpooled	7.3%	17.6%
Public transit	1.0%	0.0%
Walked	6.4%	2.9%
Bicycle	1.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.4%	6.1%
Other means	0.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Emmetsburg	Ruthven
1-unit, detached	74.0%	81.7%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.9%	9.9%
5 to 19 units	9.4%	5.1%
20 or more units	4.7%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Emmetsburg	Ruthven
Poverty rate	17.3%	13.7%
Average household size	2.09	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	14	23
Median year structure built	1959	1955