Ellston vs Sun Valley Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Ellston and Sun Valley Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

Ellston and Sun Valley Lake are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Sun Valley Lake has the higher population (162 vs 33 in Ellston). Sun Valley Lake has the higher median household income ($127,188 vs $65,714 in Ellston). Sun Valley Lake has the higher median home value ($485,300 vs $21,800 in Ellston).

Population, income & housing

	Ellston	Sun Valley Lake
Population	33	162
Median age	36.8 yrs	69.7 yrs
Median household income	$65,714	$127,188
Median home value	$21,800	$485,300
Housing units	20	552
Homeownership rate	85.0%	95.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.0%	67.1%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ellston	Sun Valley Lake
Population	30 → 33 (+10.0%)	220 → 162 (-26.4%)
Median household income	$48,750 → $65,714 (+34.8%)	$72,292 → $127,188 (+75.9%)
Median home value	$42,500 → $21,800 (-48.7%)	$353,500 → $485,300 (+37.3%)

Ellston

Population

3033

Median household income

$48,750$65,714

Median home value

$42,500$21,800

Sun Valley Lake

Population

220162

Median household income

$72,292$127,188

Median home value

$353,500$485,300

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ellston	Sun Valley Lake
Under 5	12.1%	0.0%
5 to 17	12.1%	4.3%
18 to 24	0.0%	0.0%
25 to 34	9.1%	0.0%
35 to 44	18.2%	0.0%
45 to 54	6.1%	17.9%
55 to 64	18.2%	14.8%
65 to 74	3.0%	45.7%
75 and over	21.2%	17.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ellston	Sun Valley Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	100.0%	94.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ellston	Sun Valley Lake
No high school diploma	0.0%	2.6%
High school graduate	40.0%	2.6%
Some college or associate's	16.0%	27.7%
Bachelor's degree	44.0%	40.0%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	27.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ellston	Sun Valley Lake
Drove alone	100.0%	71.0%
Carpooled	0.0%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	29.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ellston	Sun Valley Lake
1-unit, detached	100.0%	100.0%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Ellston	Sun Valley Lake
Poverty rate	3.0%	0.0%
Average household size	1.65	1.82
Mean commute (minutes)	—	35
Median year structure built	1938	1992