Le Mars vs Merrill

A side-by-side comparison of Le Mars and Merrill: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Le Mars has the higher population (10,597 vs 885 in Merrill). Merrill has the higher median household income ($79,250 vs $72,381 in Le Mars). Le Mars has the higher median home value ($202,200 vs $157,200 in Merrill).

Population, income & housing

	Le Mars	Merrill
Population	10,597	885
Median age	39.1 yrs	36.2 yrs
Median household income	$72,381	$79,250
Median home value	$202,200	$157,200
Median gross rent	$908	$581
Housing units	4,521	382
Homeownership rate	62.2%	81.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.3%	11.9%
Unemployment rate	1.5%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Le Mars	Merrill
Population	9,941 → 10,597 (+6.6%)	917 → 885 (-3.5%)
Median household income	$65,095 → $72,381 (+11.2%)	$63,654 → $79,250 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$158,900 → $202,200 (+27.2%)	$111,100 → $157,200 (+41.5%)
Median gross rent	$649 → $908 (+39.9%)	$750 → $581 (-22.5%)

Le Mars

Population

9,94110,597

Median household income

$65,095$72,381

Median home value

$158,900$202,200

Median gross rent

$649$908

Merrill

Population

917885

Median household income

$63,654$79,250

Median home value

$111,100$157,200

Median gross rent

$750$581

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Le Mars	Merrill
Under 5	5.4%	6.1%
5 to 17	19.9%	21.2%
18 to 24	8.4%	11.6%
25 to 34	12.7%	9.7%
35 to 44	11.0%	12.4%
45 to 54	12.4%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.2%	11.4%
65 to 74	9.6%	9.0%
75 and over	8.2%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Le Mars	Merrill
White (non-Hispanic)	83.3%	94.8%
Black or African American	5.3%	1.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.1%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	9.9%	1.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Le Mars	Merrill
No high school diploma	5.5%	7.2%
High school graduate	35.7%	44.3%
Some college or associate's	34.5%	36.7%
Bachelor's degree	18.8%	9.3%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	2.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Le Mars	Merrill
Drove alone	82.6%	89.2%
Carpooled	11.8%	3.1%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.6%	7.3%
Other means	0.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Le Mars	Merrill
1-unit, detached	58.2%	84.3%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	9.8%	8.1%
5 to 19 units	16.5%	0.0%
20 or more units	2.9%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	8.0%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Le Mars	Merrill
Poverty rate	8.9%	4.5%
Average household size	2.38	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	16	19
Median year structure built	1975	1956