Fort Dodge vs Otho

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

Fort Dodge and Otho 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 397 in Otho). Fort Dodge has the higher median household income ($61,769 vs $42,083 in Otho). Fort Dodge has the higher median home value ($128,900 vs $85,600 in Otho).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Dodge	Otho
Population	24,788	397
Median age	38.2 yrs	51.7 yrs
Median household income	$61,769	$42,083
Median home value	$128,900	$85,600
Median gross rent	$764	$658
Housing units	11,492	236
Homeownership rate	64.0%	72.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	11.3%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Dodge	Otho
Population	24,278 → 24,788 (+2.1%)	442 → 397 (-10.2%)
Median household income	$40,886 → $61,769 (+51.1%)	$44,861 → $42,083 (-6.2%)
Median home value	$93,600 → $128,900 (+37.7%)	$73,500 → $85,600 (+16.5%)
Median gross rent	$652 → $764 (+17.2%)	$541 → $658 (+21.6%)

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

Otho

Population

442397

Median household income

$44,861$42,083

Median home value

$73,500$85,600

Median gross rent

$541$658

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Dodge	Otho
Under 5	5.5%	4.0%
5 to 17	14.8%	10.6%
18 to 24	13.4%	9.3%
25 to 34	12.8%	13.4%
35 to 44	11.9%	6.8%
45 to 54	10.4%	9.1%
55 to 64	11.7%	19.6%
65 to 74	10.5%	13.9%
75 and over	9.0%	13.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Dodge	Otho
White (non-Hispanic)	80.9%	86.1%
Black or African American	4.5%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.6%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.5%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	7.8%	8.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Dodge	Otho
No high school diploma	9.2%	8.6%
High school graduate	32.9%	49.3%
Some college or associate's	37.9%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	10.3%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	1.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Dodge	Otho
Drove alone	81.9%	83.7%
Carpooled	8.5%	13.6%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	3.1%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.2%	1.6%
Other means	2.7%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Dodge	Otho
1-unit, detached	70.2%	77.5%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	12.1%	13.1%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	0.0%
20 or more units	6.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	8.1%

Poverty & households

	Fort Dodge	Otho
Poverty rate	14.4%	15.4%
Average household size	2.09	1.70
Mean commute (minutes)	18	16
Median year structure built	1956	1962