Alton vs Rock Valley

A side-by-side comparison of Alton and Rock Valley: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Rock Valley has the higher population (4,061 vs 1,350 in Alton). Alton has the higher median household income ($86,136 vs $67,012 in Rock Valley). Rock Valley has the higher median home value ($225,800 vs $204,600 in Alton).

Population, income & housing

	Alton	Rock Valley
Population	1,350	4,061
Median age	32.7 yrs	41.0 yrs
Median household income	$86,136	$67,012
Median home value	$204,600	$225,800
Median gross rent	$750	$1,070
Housing units	618	1,610
Homeownership rate	84.9%	62.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	21.4%
Unemployment rate	2.2%	0.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alton	Rock Valley
Population	1,336 → 1,350 (+1.0%)	3,812 → 4,061 (+6.5%)
Median household income	$70,882 → $86,136 (+21.5%)	$68,766 → $67,012 (-2.6%)
Median home value	$134,800 → $204,600 (+51.8%)	$143,600 → $225,800 (+57.2%)
Median gross rent	$792 → $750 (-5.3%)	$669 → $1,070 (+59.9%)

Alton

Population

1,3361,350

Median household income

$70,882$86,136

Median home value

$134,800$204,600

Median gross rent

$792$750

Rock Valley

Population

3,8124,061

Median household income

$68,766$67,012

Median home value

$143,600$225,800

Median gross rent

$669$1,070

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alton	Rock Valley
Under 5	4.3%	4.8%
5 to 17	17.6%	21.3%
18 to 24	15.9%	12.9%
25 to 34	13.7%	6.1%
35 to 44	10.8%	18.8%
45 to 54	8.6%	9.3%
55 to 64	14.4%	6.0%
65 to 74	8.5%	12.1%
75 and over	6.1%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alton	Rock Valley
White (non-Hispanic)	84.5%	67.9%
Black or African American	2.7%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.0%	32.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alton	Rock Valley
No high school diploma	2.9%	14.0%
High school graduate	36.4%	38.6%
Some college or associate's	38.8%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alton	Rock Valley
Drove alone	87.7%	72.1%
Carpooled	4.7%	11.1%
Public transit	0.6%	1.0%
Walked	1.2%	3.4%
Bicycle	1.3%	3.7%
Worked from home	4.5%	8.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alton	Rock Valley
1-unit, detached	77.5%	73.0%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	5.2%
2 to 4 units	11.8%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	11.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	6.0%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Alton	Rock Valley
Poverty rate	3.0%	6.4%
Average household size	2.39	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	15	12
Median year structure built	1968	1975