Defiance vs Shelby

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

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

Shelby has the higher population (797 vs 207 in Defiance). Shelby has the higher median household income ($60,333 vs $51,458 in Defiance). Shelby has the higher median home value ($156,300 vs $84,300 in Defiance).

Population, income & housing

	Defiance	Shelby
Population	207	797
Median age	48.5 yrs	34.4 yrs
Median household income	$51,458	$60,333
Median home value	$84,300	$156,300
Median gross rent	—	$872
Housing units	109	422
Homeownership rate	85.4%	64.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.3%	12.4%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Defiance	Shelby
Population	204 → 207 (+1.5%)	651 → 797 (+22.4%)
Median household income	$47,083 → $51,458 (+9.3%)	$47,045 → $60,333 (+28.2%)
Median home value	$77,500 → $84,300 (+8.8%)	$102,900 → $156,300 (+51.9%)
Median gross rent	$550 → $658 (+19.6%)	$756 → $872 (+15.3%)

Defiance

Population

204207

Median household income

$47,083$51,458

Median home value

$77,500$84,300

Median gross rent

$550$658

Shelby

Population

651797

Median household income

$47,045$60,333

Median home value

$102,900$156,300

Median gross rent

$756$872

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Defiance	Shelby
Under 5	2.4%	4.3%
5 to 17	16.4%	13.6%
18 to 24	1.4%	18.6%
25 to 34	17.9%	14.8%
35 to 44	7.7%	11.8%
45 to 54	8.7%	11.3%
55 to 64	19.8%	11.7%
65 to 74	13.0%	10.8%
75 and over	12.6%	3.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Defiance	Shelby
White (non-Hispanic)	84.1%	86.2%
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%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	12.1%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Defiance	Shelby
No high school diploma	9.1%	9.7%
High school graduate	45.5%	35.7%
Some college or associate's	38.2%	42.2%
Bachelor's degree	5.5%	9.1%
Graduate or professional degree	1.8%	3.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Defiance	Shelby
Drove alone	73.5%	85.7%
Carpooled	7.7%	3.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	9.4%	4.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.4%	5.7%
Other means	6.0%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Defiance	Shelby
1-unit, detached	92.7%	73.2%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.9%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	5.5%	7.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	12.6%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Defiance	Shelby
Poverty rate	15.9%	9.8%
Average household size	2.01	2.03
Mean commute (minutes)	22	31
Median year structure built	1942	1938