Earling vs Harlan

A side-by-side comparison of Earling and Harlan: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Harlan has the higher population (4,896 vs 466 in Earling). Harlan has the higher median household income ($54,923 vs $44,375 in Earling). Harlan has the higher median home value ($137,500 vs $117,600 in Earling).

Population, income & housing

	Earling	Harlan
Population	466	4,896
Median age	41.8 yrs	48.2 yrs
Median household income	$44,375	$54,923
Median home value	$117,600	$137,500
Median gross rent	$731	$856
Housing units	221	2,304
Homeownership rate	71.2%	68.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.4%	21.6%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Earling	Harlan
Population	370 → 466 (+25.9%)	4,845 → 4,896 (+1.1%)
Median household income	$44,583 → $44,375 (-0.5%)	$52,063 → $54,923 (+5.5%)
Median home value	$86,100 → $117,600 (+36.6%)	$118,400 → $137,500 (+16.1%)
Median gross rent	$525 → $731 (+39.2%)	$595 → $856 (+43.9%)

Earling

Population

370466

Median household income

$44,583$44,375

Median home value

$86,100$117,600

Median gross rent

$525$731

Harlan

Population

4,8454,896

Median household income

$52,063$54,923

Median home value

$118,400$137,500

Median gross rent

$595$856

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Earling	Harlan
Under 5	4.9%	6.0%
5 to 17	15.0%	14.3%
18 to 24	13.5%	7.8%
25 to 34	8.4%	9.0%
35 to 44	10.5%	11.1%
45 to 54	13.3%	9.3%
55 to 64	10.1%	17.8%
65 to 74	7.9%	11.3%
75 and over	16.3%	13.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Earling	Harlan
White (non-Hispanic)	89.9%	91.1%
Black or African American	1.7%	0.9%
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%	0.5%
Two or more races	1.3%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	7.1%	3.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Earling	Harlan
No high school diploma	6.1%	7.0%
High school graduate	36.5%	36.3%
Some college or associate's	30.0%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	19.0%	14.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Earling	Harlan
Drove alone	86.7%	81.1%
Carpooled	3.0%	7.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.5%
Walked	1.0%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.9%	7.8%
Other means	1.5%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Earling	Harlan
1-unit, detached	92.3%	81.2%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	1.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	5.2%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Earling	Harlan
Poverty rate	8.9%	10.9%
Average household size	1.99	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	22	14
Median year structure built	1954	1956