Decorah vs Ridgeway

A side-by-side comparison of Decorah and Ridgeway: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Decorah has the higher population (7,597 vs 266 in Ridgeway). Decorah has the higher median household income ($62,177 vs $56,500 in Ridgeway). Decorah has the higher median home value ($234,600 vs $136,600 in Ridgeway).

Population, income & housing

	Decorah	Ridgeway
Population	7,597	266
Median age	36.5 yrs	29.8 yrs
Median household income	$62,177	$56,500
Median home value	$234,600	$136,600
Median gross rent	$788	$637
Housing units	3,277	146
Homeownership rate	64.7%	45.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.1%	20.1%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Decorah	Ridgeway
Population	7,701 → 7,597 (-1.4%)	256 → 266 (+3.9%)
Median household income	$62,336 → $62,177 (-0.3%)	$58,750 → $56,500 (-3.8%)
Median home value	$189,700 → $234,600 (+23.7%)	$111,700 → $136,600 (+22.3%)
Median gross rent	$634 → $788 (+24.3%)	$517 → $637 (+23.2%)

Decorah

Population

7,7017,597

Median household income

$62,336$62,177

Median home value

$189,700$234,600

Median gross rent

$634$788

Ridgeway

Population

256266

Median household income

$58,750$56,500

Median home value

$111,700$136,600

Median gross rent

$517$637

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Decorah	Ridgeway
Under 5	3.9%	6.0%
5 to 17	9.7%	11.7%
18 to 24	24.9%	28.2%
25 to 34	10.1%	8.3%
35 to 44	9.7%	11.3%
45 to 54	10.5%	8.3%
55 to 64	8.6%	10.5%
65 to 74	11.7%	11.7%
75 and over	11.0%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Decorah	Ridgeway
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	97.7%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.3%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Decorah	Ridgeway
No high school diploma	3.8%	2.1%
High school graduate	21.1%	43.1%
Some college or associate's	29.0%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree	28.8%	13.9%
Graduate or professional degree	17.3%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Decorah	Ridgeway
Drove alone	58.0%	85.0%
Carpooled	7.6%	8.9%
Public transit	0.4%	0.0%
Walked	23.0%	2.8%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.7%	1.1%
Other means	0.2%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Decorah	Ridgeway
1-unit, detached	66.8%	65.1%
1-unit, attached	4.8%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	16.8%	11.6%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	22.6%
20 or more units	3.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Decorah	Ridgeway
Poverty rate	7.7%	3.4%
Average household size	1.99	1.82
Mean commute (minutes)	12	24
Median year structure built	1964	1963