Black Hawk County vs Story County

A side-by-side comparison of Black Hawk County and Story County: population, income, housing, and more.

Black Hawk County and Story County are counties in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Black Hawk County has the higher population (130,693 vs 98,592 in Story County). Story County has the higher median household income ($69,006 vs $64,581 in Black Hawk County). Story County has the higher median home value ($243,600 vs $182,400 in Black Hawk County).

Population, income & housing

	Black Hawk County	Story County
Population	130,693	98,592
Median age	35.7 yrs	27.0 yrs
Median household income	$64,581	$69,006
Median home value	$182,400	$243,600
Median gross rent	$962	$1,019
Housing units	58,748	41,642
Homeownership rate	65.3%	56.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.1%	53.3%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Black Hawk County	Story County
Population	132,393 → 130,693 (-1.3%)	96,941 → 98,592 (+1.7%)
Median household income	$53,539 → $64,581 (+20.6%)	$56,756 → $69,006 (+21.6%)
Median home value	$147,500 → $182,400 (+23.7%)	$185,800 → $243,600 (+31.1%)
Median gross rent	$801 → $962 (+20.1%)	$905 → $1,019 (+12.6%)

Black Hawk County

Population

132,393130,693

Median household income

$53,539$64,581

Median home value

$147,500$182,400

Median gross rent

$801$962

Story County

Population

96,94198,592

Median household income

$56,756$69,006

Median home value

$185,800$243,600

Median gross rent

$905$1,019

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Black Hawk County	Story County
Under 5	6.1%	4.3%
5 to 17	15.8%	12.2%
18 to 24	14.5%	30.3%
25 to 34	12.6%	13.0%
35 to 44	12.1%	10.3%
45 to 54	10.0%	8.1%
55 to 64	11.4%	9.0%
65 to 74	10.3%	7.6%
75 and over	7.1%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Black Hawk County	Story County
White (non-Hispanic)	78.8%	81.4%
Black or African American	9.5%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.4%	6.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.5%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Black Hawk County	Story County
No high school diploma	6.7%	2.9%
High school graduate	30.8%	15.8%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	19.3%	30.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.8%	22.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Black Hawk County	Story County
Drove alone	77.9%	70.8%
Carpooled	9.1%	7.0%
Public transit	0.2%	4.0%
Walked	3.3%	5.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.1%
Worked from home	8.5%	10.9%
Other means	0.6%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Black Hawk County	Story County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	52.6%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	16.4%
20 or more units	6.4%	14.6%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Black Hawk County	Story County
Poverty rate	14.7%	18.6%
Average household size	2.34	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	16	18
Median year structure built	1966	1983