Altoona vs Grimes

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

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

Altoona has the higher population (20,592 vs 15,810 in Grimes). Grimes has the higher median household income ($104,497 vs $87,123 in Altoona). Grimes has the higher median home value ($281,000 vs $257,300 in Altoona).

Population, income & housing

	Altoona	Grimes
Population	20,592	15,810
Median age	35.5 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$87,123	$104,497
Median home value	$257,300	$281,000
Median gross rent	$1,203	$1,156
Housing units	8,187	6,209
Homeownership rate	68.3%	70.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.6%	47.6%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Altoona	Grimes
Population	18,458 → 20,592 (+11.6%)	12,839 → 15,810 (+23.1%)
Median household income	$77,581 → $87,123 (+12.3%)	$81,950 → $104,497 (+27.5%)
Median home value	$196,600 → $257,300 (+30.9%)	$225,800 → $281,000 (+24.4%)
Median gross rent	$931 → $1,203 (+29.2%)	$1,002 → $1,156 (+15.4%)

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

Grimes

Population

12,83915,810

Median household income

$81,950$104,497

Median home value

$225,800$281,000

Median gross rent

$1,002$1,156

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Altoona	Grimes
Under 5	6.4%	6.3%
5 to 17	19.9%	21.3%
18 to 24	8.3%	8.7%
25 to 34	14.8%	14.1%
35 to 44	13.6%	19.3%
45 to 54	11.0%	12.5%
55 to 64	11.5%	9.7%
65 to 74	9.3%	5.3%
75 and over	5.2%	2.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Altoona	Grimes
White (non-Hispanic)	84.4%	85.0%
Black or African American	3.5%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.5%	3.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	6.9%	6.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Altoona	Grimes
No high school diploma	4.4%	0.8%
High school graduate	30.9%	27.1%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	24.6%
Bachelor's degree	24.6%	31.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	16.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Altoona	Grimes
Drove alone	79.6%	66.8%
Carpooled	4.9%	7.5%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.7%	24.5%
Other means	2.1%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Altoona	Grimes
1-unit, detached	60.8%	60.6%
1-unit, attached	10.8%	8.9%
2 to 4 units	2.9%	1.3%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	13.5%
20 or more units	13.7%	10.6%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	5.1%

Poverty & households

	Altoona	Grimes
Poverty rate	7.2%	6.8%
Average household size	2.60	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	23	19
Median year structure built	1998	2008