Altoona vs Johnston

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

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

Johnston has the higher population (24,196 vs 20,592 in Altoona). Johnston has the higher median household income ($103,430 vs $87,123 in Altoona). Johnston has the higher median home value ($346,200 vs $257,300 in Altoona).

Population, income & housing

	Altoona	Johnston
Population	20,592	24,196
Median age	35.5 yrs	38.4 yrs
Median household income	$87,123	$103,430
Median home value	$257,300	$346,200
Median gross rent	$1,203	$1,288
Housing units	8,187	9,868
Homeownership rate	68.3%	72.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.6%	57.9%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	1.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Altoona	Johnston
Population	18,458 → 20,592 (+11.6%)	21,406 → 24,196 (+13.0%)
Median household income	$77,581 → $87,123 (+12.3%)	$96,948 → $103,430 (+6.7%)
Median home value	$196,600 → $257,300 (+30.9%)	$268,300 → $346,200 (+29.0%)
Median gross rent	$931 → $1,203 (+29.2%)	$1,146 → $1,288 (+12.4%)

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

Johnston

Population

21,40624,196

Median household income

$96,948$103,430

Median home value

$268,300$346,200

Median gross rent

$1,146$1,288

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Altoona	Johnston
Under 5	6.4%	6.0%
5 to 17	19.9%	23.0%
18 to 24	8.3%	6.2%
25 to 34	14.8%	10.2%
35 to 44	13.6%	14.5%
45 to 54	11.0%	14.8%
55 to 64	11.5%	9.2%
65 to 74	9.3%	9.7%
75 and over	5.2%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Altoona	Johnston
White (non-Hispanic)	84.4%	79.3%
Black or African American	3.5%	8.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.5%	7.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	6.9%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Altoona	Johnston
No high school diploma	4.4%	2.5%
High school graduate	30.9%	14.5%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	25.1%
Bachelor's degree	24.6%	36.7%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	21.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Altoona	Johnston
Drove alone	79.6%	79.2%
Carpooled	4.9%	4.7%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	12.7%	14.5%
Other means	2.1%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Altoona	Johnston
1-unit, detached	60.8%	58.7%
1-unit, attached	10.8%	15.0%
2 to 4 units	2.9%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	9.9%
20 or more units	13.7%	15.0%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Altoona	Johnston
Poverty rate	7.2%	7.6%
Average household size	2.60	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	23	19
Median year structure built	1998	2004