Altoona vs Des Moines

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

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

Des Moines has the higher population (212,464 vs 20,592 in Altoona). Altoona has the higher median household income ($87,123 vs $63,966 in Des Moines). Altoona has the higher median home value ($257,300 vs $183,700 in Des Moines).

Population, income & housing

	Altoona	Des Moines
Population	20,592	212,464
Median age	35.5 yrs	34.6 yrs
Median household income	$87,123	$63,966
Median home value	$257,300	$183,700
Median gross rent	$1,203	$1,054
Housing units	8,187	97,457
Homeownership rate	68.3%	60.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.6%	29.0%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Altoona	Des Moines
Population	18,458 → 20,592 (+11.6%)	215,636 → 212,464 (-1.5%)
Median household income	$77,581 → $87,123 (+12.3%)	$53,525 → $63,966 (+19.5%)
Median home value	$196,600 → $257,300 (+30.9%)	$133,200 → $183,700 (+37.9%)
Median gross rent	$931 → $1,203 (+29.2%)	$855 → $1,054 (+23.3%)

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

Des Moines

Population

215,636212,464

Median household income

$53,525$63,966

Median home value

$133,200$183,700

Median gross rent

$855$1,054

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Altoona	Des Moines
Under 5	6.4%	6.8%
5 to 17	19.9%	16.2%
18 to 24	8.3%	10.7%
25 to 34	14.8%	17.0%
35 to 44	13.6%	13.0%
45 to 54	11.0%	11.8%
55 to 64	11.5%	11.9%
65 to 74	9.3%	7.7%
75 and over	5.2%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Altoona	Des Moines
White (non-Hispanic)	84.4%	61.7%
Black or African American	3.5%	11.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.5%	6.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.3%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.9%	16.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Altoona	Des Moines
No high school diploma	4.4%	12.7%
High school graduate	30.9%	29.1%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	29.1%
Bachelor's degree	24.6%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	9.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Altoona	Des Moines
Drove alone	79.6%	72.3%
Carpooled	4.9%	11.2%
Public transit	0.5%	1.1%
Walked	0.0%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.4%
Worked from home	12.7%	11.4%
Other means	2.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Altoona	Des Moines
1-unit, detached	60.8%	61.6%
1-unit, attached	10.8%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	2.9%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	8.1%
20 or more units	13.7%	18.6%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Altoona	Des Moines
Poverty rate	7.2%	14.9%
Average household size	2.60	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	23	20
Median year structure built	1998	1960