Defiance vs Portsmouth

A side-by-side comparison of Defiance and Portsmouth: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Defiance has the higher population (207 vs 200 in Portsmouth). Portsmouth has the higher median household income ($79,643 vs $51,458 in Defiance). Portsmouth has the higher median home value ($115,500 vs $84,300 in Defiance).

Population, income & housing

	Defiance	Portsmouth
Population	207	200
Median age	48.5 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$51,458	$79,643
Median home value	$84,300	$115,500
Median gross rent	—	$575
Housing units	109	105
Homeownership rate	85.4%	93.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.3%	10.7%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Defiance	Portsmouth
Population	204 → 207 (+1.5%)	126 → 200 (+58.7%)
Median household income	$47,083 → $51,458 (+9.3%)	$56,250 → $79,643 (+41.6%)
Median home value	$77,500 → $84,300 (+8.8%)	$107,800 → $115,500 (+7.1%)
Median gross rent	$550 → $658 (+19.6%)	$583 → $575 (-1.4%)

Defiance

Population

204207

Median household income

$47,083$51,458

Median home value

$77,500$84,300

Median gross rent

$550$658

Portsmouth

Population

126200

Median household income

$56,250$79,643

Median home value

$107,800$115,500

Median gross rent

$583$575

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Defiance	Portsmouth
Under 5	2.4%	7.0%
5 to 17	16.4%	17.0%
18 to 24	1.4%	1.5%
25 to 34	17.9%	15.5%
35 to 44	7.7%	10.5%
45 to 54	8.7%	19.5%
55 to 64	19.8%	15.0%
65 to 74	13.0%	10.0%
75 and over	12.6%	4.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Defiance	Portsmouth
White (non-Hispanic)	84.1%	87.0%
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	3.9%	10.0%
Hispanic or Latino	12.1%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Defiance	Portsmouth
No high school diploma	9.1%	5.4%
High school graduate	45.5%	32.2%
Some college or associate's	38.2%	51.7%
Bachelor's degree	5.5%	8.1%
Graduate or professional degree	1.8%	2.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Defiance	Portsmouth
Drove alone	73.5%	74.8%
Carpooled	7.7%	2.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	9.4%	12.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.4%	7.1%
Other means	6.0%	3.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Defiance	Portsmouth
1-unit, detached	92.7%	98.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.9%	1.0%
5 to 19 units	5.5%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Defiance	Portsmouth
Poverty rate	15.9%	3.0%
Average household size	2.01	2.04
Mean commute (minutes)	22	23
Median year structure built	1942	1957