Des Moines County vs Muscatine County

A side-by-side comparison of Des Moines County and Muscatine County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Muscatine County has the higher population (42,735 vs 38,597 in Des Moines County). Muscatine County has the higher median household income ($69,512 vs $60,662 in Des Moines County). Muscatine County has the higher median home value ($172,400 vs $137,000 in Des Moines County).

Population, income & housing

	Des Moines County	Muscatine County
Population	38,597	42,735
Median age	42.2 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$60,662	$69,512
Median home value	$137,000	$172,400
Median gross rent	$908	$966
Housing units	18,778	18,429
Homeownership rate	72.7%	74.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.8%	22.7%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Des Moines County	Muscatine County
Population	39,386 → 38,597 (-2.0%)	42,889 → 42,735 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$51,267 → $60,662 (+18.3%)	$58,453 → $69,512 (+18.9%)
Median home value	$108,500 → $137,000 (+26.3%)	$130,500 → $172,400 (+32.1%)
Median gross rent	$778 → $908 (+16.7%)	$831 → $966 (+16.2%)

Des Moines County

Population

39,38638,597

Median household income

$51,267$60,662

Median home value

$108,500$137,000

Median gross rent

$778$908

Muscatine County

Population

42,88942,735

Median household income

$58,453$69,512

Median home value

$130,500$172,400

Median gross rent

$831$966

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Des Moines County	Muscatine County
Under 5	5.6%	5.9%
5 to 17	16.3%	18.3%
18 to 24	8.3%	8.3%
25 to 34	11.4%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.0%	12.6%
45 to 54	11.4%	12.1%
55 to 64	13.9%	13.5%
65 to 74	12.4%	10.8%
75 and over	8.7%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Des Moines County	Muscatine County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.2%	75.3%
Black or African American	4.2%	2.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	5.8%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	18.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Des Moines County	Muscatine County
No high school diploma	6.0%	9.5%
High school graduate	36.3%	35.2%
Some college or associate's	33.9%	32.6%
Bachelor's degree	15.8%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	6.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Des Moines County	Muscatine County
Drove alone	81.9%	81.3%
Carpooled	10.0%	9.4%
Public transit	0.7%	0.4%
Walked	1.8%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.3%	5.9%
Other means	1.1%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Des Moines County	Muscatine County
1-unit, detached	78.3%	74.5%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	8.1%
5 to 19 units	4.9%	4.6%
20 or more units	3.5%	3.2%
Mobile home & other	3.8%	6.7%

Poverty & households

	Des Moines County	Muscatine County
Poverty rate	14.1%	11.6%
Average household size	2.21	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	19	19
Median year structure built	1958	1969