Laurens vs Palmer

A side-by-side comparison of Laurens and Palmer: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Laurens has the higher population (1,234 vs 114 in Palmer). Palmer has the higher median household income ($60,625 vs $56,354 in Laurens). Laurens has the higher median home value ($71,000 vs $36,500 in Palmer).

Population, income & housing

	Laurens	Palmer
Population	1,234	114
Median age	48.0 yrs	52.8 yrs
Median household income	$56,354	$60,625
Median home value	$71,000	$36,500
Median gross rent	$763	—
Housing units	634	106
Homeownership rate	80.1%	92.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.3%	12.0%
Unemployment rate	7.7%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Laurens	Palmer
Population	1,228 → 1,234 (+0.5%)	150 → 114 (-24.0%)
Median household income	$45,714 → $56,354 (+23.3%)	$43,750 → $60,625 (+38.6%)
Median home value	$65,900 → $71,000 (+7.7%)	$26,300 → $36,500 (+38.8%)
Median gross rent	$620 → $763 (+23.1%)	$579 → $625 (+7.9%)

Laurens

Population

1,2281,234

Median household income

$45,714$56,354

Median home value

$65,900$71,000

Median gross rent

$620$763

Palmer

Population

150114

Median household income

$43,750$60,625

Median home value

$26,300$36,500

Median gross rent

$579$625

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Laurens	Palmer
Under 5	5.1%	0.0%
5 to 17	12.5%	7.9%
18 to 24	7.6%	11.4%
25 to 34	10.7%	5.3%
35 to 44	10.8%	8.8%
45 to 54	13.6%	24.6%
55 to 64	14.2%	12.3%
65 to 74	11.5%	14.0%
75 and over	14.0%	15.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Laurens	Palmer
White (non-Hispanic)	90.3%	96.5%
Black or African American	1.5%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.8%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Laurens	Palmer
No high school diploma	10.1%	29.3%
High school graduate	28.6%	30.4%
Some college or associate's	47.0%	28.3%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	10.9%
Graduate or professional degree	3.0%	1.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Laurens	Palmer
Drove alone	81.8%	77.4%
Carpooled	10.5%	11.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.1%	3.8%
Bicycle	1.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.1%	3.8%
Other means	1.0%	3.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Laurens	Palmer
1-unit, detached	88.5%	89.6%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	5.4%	10.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Laurens	Palmer
Poverty rate	12.7%	31.6%
Average household size	2.24	1.46
Mean commute (minutes)	20	27
Median year structure built	1952	1945