Altoona vs Ankeny

A side-by-side comparison of Altoona and Ankeny: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ankeny has the higher population (70,542 vs 20,592 in Altoona). Ankeny has the higher median household income ($106,603 vs $87,123 in Altoona). Ankeny has the higher median home value ($311,300 vs $257,300 in Altoona).

Population, income & housing

	Altoona	Ankeny
Population	20,592	70,542
Median age	35.5 yrs	33.2 yrs
Median household income	$87,123	$106,603
Median home value	$257,300	$311,300
Median gross rent	$1,203	$1,279
Housing units	8,187	28,619
Homeownership rate	68.3%	71.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.6%	53.2%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Altoona	Ankeny
Population	18,458 → 20,592 (+11.6%)	61,938 → 70,542 (+13.9%)
Median household income	$77,581 → $87,123 (+12.3%)	$86,486 → $106,603 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$196,600 → $257,300 (+30.9%)	$220,100 → $311,300 (+41.4%)
Median gross rent	$931 → $1,203 (+29.2%)	$1,073 → $1,279 (+19.2%)

Altoona

Population

18,45820,592

Median household income

$77,581$87,123

Median home value

$196,600$257,300

Median gross rent

$931$1,203

Ankeny

Population

61,93870,542

Median household income

$86,486$106,603

Median home value

$220,100$311,300

Median gross rent

$1,073$1,279

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Altoona	Ankeny
Under 5	6.4%	7.4%
5 to 17	19.9%	20.2%
18 to 24	8.3%	8.7%
25 to 34	14.8%	16.6%
35 to 44	13.6%	16.0%
45 to 54	11.0%	12.2%
55 to 64	11.5%	7.6%
65 to 74	9.3%	6.5%
75 and over	5.2%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Altoona	Ankeny
White (non-Hispanic)	84.4%	88.0%
Black or African American	3.5%	1.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.5%	3.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	6.9%	4.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Altoona	Ankeny
No high school diploma	4.4%	2.2%
High school graduate	30.9%	15.9%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	24.6%	35.7%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	17.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Altoona	Ankeny
Drove alone	79.6%	75.3%
Carpooled	4.9%	6.2%
Public transit	0.5%	0.3%
Walked	0.0%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	12.7%	16.4%
Other means	2.1%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Altoona	Ankeny
1-unit, detached	60.8%	58.2%
1-unit, attached	10.8%	15.2%
2 to 4 units	2.9%	2.8%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	12.2%
20 or more units	13.7%	10.4%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Altoona	Ankeny
Poverty rate	7.2%	4.1%
Average household size	2.60	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	23	21
Median year structure built	1998	2005