Pottawattamie County vs Story County

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

Pottawattamie 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.

Story County has the higher population (98,592 vs 93,407 in Pottawattamie County). Pottawattamie County has the higher median household income ($71,446 vs $69,006 in Story County). Story County has the higher median home value ($243,600 vs $183,600 in Pottawattamie County).

Population, income & housing

	Pottawattamie County	Story County
Population	93,407	98,592
Median age	40.1 yrs	27.0 yrs
Median household income	$71,446	$69,006
Median home value	$183,600	$243,600
Median gross rent	$970	$1,019
Housing units	40,022	41,642
Homeownership rate	70.3%	56.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.5%	53.3%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pottawattamie County	Story County
Population	93,393 → 93,407 (+0.0%)	96,941 → 98,592 (+1.7%)
Median household income	$60,065 → $71,446 (+18.9%)	$56,756 → $69,006 (+21.6%)
Median home value	$139,800 → $183,600 (+31.3%)	$185,800 → $243,600 (+31.1%)
Median gross rent	$842 → $970 (+15.2%)	$905 → $1,019 (+12.6%)

Pottawattamie County

Population

93,39393,407

Median household income

$60,065$71,446

Median home value

$139,800$183,600

Median gross rent

$842$970

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)

	Pottawattamie County	Story County
Under 5	5.5%	4.3%
5 to 17	17.6%	12.2%
18 to 24	8.5%	30.3%
25 to 34	12.0%	13.0%
35 to 44	12.5%	10.3%
45 to 54	11.7%	8.1%
55 to 64	13.8%	9.0%
65 to 74	11.1%	7.6%
75 and over	7.2%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pottawattamie County	Story County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.4%	81.4%
Black or African American	1.7%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.9%	6.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	8.7%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pottawattamie County	Story County
No high school diploma	9.0%	2.9%
High school graduate	33.9%	15.8%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	30.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	22.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pottawattamie County	Story County
Drove alone	80.4%	70.8%
Carpooled	7.0%	7.0%
Public transit	0.6%	4.0%
Walked	1.7%	5.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	1.1%
Worked from home	8.9%	10.9%
Other means	1.2%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pottawattamie County	Story County
1-unit, detached	75.1%	52.6%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	8.5%	16.4%
20 or more units	5.7%	14.6%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Pottawattamie County	Story County
Poverty rate	10.9%	18.6%
Average household size	2.42	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	20	18
Median year structure built	1967	1983