Harlan vs Panama

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

Harlan and Panama 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 283 in Panama). Panama has the higher median household income ($61,250 vs $54,923 in Harlan). Harlan has the higher median home value ($137,500 vs $121,600 in Panama).

Population, income & housing

	Harlan	Panama
Population	4,896	283
Median age	48.2 yrs	36.8 yrs
Median household income	$54,923	$61,250
Median home value	$137,500	$121,600
Median gross rent	$856	$939
Housing units	2,304	136
Homeownership rate	68.3%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.6%	12.6%
Unemployment rate	6.2%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Harlan	Panama
Population	4,845 → 4,896 (+1.1%)	204 → 283 (+38.7%)
Median household income	$52,063 → $54,923 (+5.5%)	$62,000 → $61,250 (-1.2%)
Median home value	$118,400 → $137,500 (+16.1%)	$88,900 → $121,600 (+36.8%)
Median gross rent	$595 → $856 (+43.9%)	—

Harlan

Population

4,8454,896

Median household income

$52,063$54,923

Median home value

$118,400$137,500

Median gross rent

$595$856

Panama

Population

204283

Median household income

$62,000$61,250

Median home value

$88,900$121,600

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Harlan	Panama
Under 5	6.0%	2.8%
5 to 17	14.3%	27.2%
18 to 24	7.8%	5.7%
25 to 34	9.0%	10.2%
35 to 44	11.1%	16.6%
45 to 54	9.3%	19.8%
55 to 64	17.8%	7.1%
65 to 74	11.3%	5.3%
75 and over	13.4%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Harlan	Panama
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	89.0%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.7%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	1.8%
Two or more races	4.4%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	7.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Harlan	Panama
No high school diploma	7.0%	2.7%
High school graduate	36.3%	25.8%
Some college or associate's	35.1%	58.8%
Bachelor's degree	14.4%	9.3%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	3.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Harlan	Panama
Drove alone	81.1%	78.9%
Carpooled	7.4%	0.6%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	2.6%	12.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.8%	8.0%
Other means	0.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Harlan	Panama
1-unit, detached	81.2%	89.0%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	11.0%
5 to 19 units	1.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	5.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.9%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Harlan	Panama
Poverty rate	10.9%	4.3%
Average household size	2.27	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	14	13
Median year structure built	1956	1951