Des Moines vs Johnston

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

Des Moines and Johnston 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 24,196 in Johnston). Johnston has the higher median household income ($103,430 vs $63,966 in Des Moines). Johnston has the higher median home value ($346,200 vs $183,700 in Des Moines).

Population, income & housing

	Des Moines	Johnston
Population	212,464	24,196
Median age	34.6 yrs	38.4 yrs
Median household income	$63,966	$103,430
Median home value	$183,700	$346,200
Median gross rent	$1,054	$1,288
Housing units	97,457	9,868
Homeownership rate	60.4%	72.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.0%	57.9%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	1.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Des Moines	Johnston
Population	215,636 → 212,464 (-1.5%)	21,406 → 24,196 (+13.0%)
Median household income	$53,525 → $63,966 (+19.5%)	$96,948 → $103,430 (+6.7%)
Median home value	$133,200 → $183,700 (+37.9%)	$268,300 → $346,200 (+29.0%)
Median gross rent	$855 → $1,054 (+23.3%)	$1,146 → $1,288 (+12.4%)

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

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)

	Des Moines	Johnston
Under 5	6.8%	6.0%
5 to 17	16.2%	23.0%
18 to 24	10.7%	6.2%
25 to 34	17.0%	10.2%
35 to 44	13.0%	14.5%
45 to 54	11.8%	14.8%
55 to 64	11.9%	9.2%
65 to 74	7.7%	9.7%
75 and over	4.8%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Des Moines	Johnston
White (non-Hispanic)	61.7%	79.3%
Black or African American	11.8%	8.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	6.2%	7.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.0%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	16.0%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Des Moines	Johnston
No high school diploma	12.7%	2.5%
High school graduate	29.1%	14.5%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	25.1%
Bachelor's degree	19.9%	36.7%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	21.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Des Moines	Johnston
Drove alone	72.3%	79.2%
Carpooled	11.2%	4.7%
Public transit	1.1%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.1%
Worked from home	11.4%	14.5%
Other means	1.3%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Des Moines	Johnston
1-unit, detached	61.6%	58.7%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	15.0%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	9.9%
20 or more units	18.6%	15.0%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Des Moines	Johnston
Poverty rate	14.9%	7.6%
Average household size	2.30	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	1960	2004