Dayton vs Fort Dodge

A side-by-side comparison of Dayton and Fort Dodge: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fort Dodge has the higher population (24,788 vs 789 in Dayton). Dayton has the higher median household income ($67,396 vs $61,769 in Fort Dodge). Fort Dodge has the higher median home value ($128,900 vs $106,900 in Dayton).

Population, income & housing

	Dayton	Fort Dodge
Population	789	24,788
Median age	47.2 yrs	38.2 yrs
Median household income	$67,396	$61,769
Median home value	$106,900	$128,900
Median gross rent	$542	$764
Housing units	424	11,492
Homeownership rate	70.0%	64.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.5%	20.1%
Unemployment rate	2.4%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dayton	Fort Dodge
Population	767 → 789 (+2.9%)	24,278 → 24,788 (+2.1%)
Median household income	$54,583 → $67,396 (+23.5%)	$40,886 → $61,769 (+51.1%)
Median home value	$86,700 → $106,900 (+23.3%)	$93,600 → $128,900 (+37.7%)
Median gross rent	$509 → $542 (+6.5%)	$652 → $764 (+17.2%)

Dayton

Population

767789

Median household income

$54,583$67,396

Median home value

$86,700$106,900

Median gross rent

$509$542

Fort Dodge

Population

24,27824,788

Median household income

$40,886$61,769

Median home value

$93,600$128,900

Median gross rent

$652$764

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dayton	Fort Dodge
Under 5	2.4%	5.5%
5 to 17	18.0%	14.8%
18 to 24	8.2%	13.4%
25 to 34	8.5%	12.8%
35 to 44	10.1%	11.9%
45 to 54	16.7%	10.4%
55 to 64	15.7%	11.7%
65 to 74	9.9%	10.5%
75 and over	10.4%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dayton	Fort Dodge
White (non-Hispanic)	95.4%	80.9%
Black or African American	1.4%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.5%
Two or more races	1.9%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.6%	7.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dayton	Fort Dodge
No high school diploma	3.9%	9.2%
High school graduate	42.1%	32.9%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	37.9%
Bachelor's degree	18.3%	15.0%
Graduate or professional degree	3.2%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dayton	Fort Dodge
Drove alone	84.8%	81.9%
Carpooled	6.5%	8.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	2.7%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	3.9%	3.2%
Other means	2.2%	2.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dayton	Fort Dodge
1-unit, detached	75.2%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	12.0%	12.1%
5 to 19 units	10.4%	5.7%
20 or more units	0.0%	6.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	Dayton	Fort Dodge
Poverty rate	5.1%	14.4%
Average household size	2.13	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	27	18
Median year structure built	1956	1956