Story County vs Woodbury County

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

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

Woodbury County has the higher population (105,760 vs 98,592 in Story County). Woodbury County has the higher median household income ($70,147 vs $69,006 in Story County). Story County has the higher median home value ($243,600 vs $172,000 in Woodbury County).

Population, income & housing

	Story County	Woodbury County
Population	98,592	105,760
Median age	27.0 yrs	36.2 yrs
Median household income	$69,006	$70,147
Median home value	$243,600	$172,000
Median gross rent	$1,019	$946
Housing units	41,642	43,121
Homeownership rate	56.0%	68.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.3%	23.4%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Story County	Woodbury County
Population	96,941 → 98,592 (+1.7%)	102,586 → 105,760 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$56,756 → $69,006 (+21.6%)	$59,224 → $70,147 (+18.4%)
Median home value	$185,800 → $243,600 (+31.1%)	$123,300 → $172,000 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$905 → $1,019 (+12.6%)	$787 → $946 (+20.2%)

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

Woodbury County

Population

102,586105,760

Median household income

$59,224$70,147

Median home value

$123,300$172,000

Median gross rent

$787$946

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Story County	Woodbury County
Under 5	4.3%	6.8%
5 to 17	12.2%	19.2%
18 to 24	30.3%	10.2%
25 to 34	13.0%	12.2%
35 to 44	10.3%	12.3%
45 to 54	8.1%	11.9%
55 to 64	9.0%	11.8%
65 to 74	7.6%	9.6%
75 and over	5.3%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Story County	Woodbury County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.4%	68.4%
Black or African American	2.6%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	1.3%
Asian	6.8%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.4%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.8%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	18.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Story County	Woodbury County
No high school diploma	2.9%	12.9%
High school graduate	15.8%	32.6%
Some college or associate's	27.9%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	30.5%	15.6%
Graduate or professional degree	22.8%	7.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Story County	Woodbury County
Drove alone	70.8%	80.0%
Carpooled	7.0%	10.8%
Public transit	4.0%	1.1%
Walked	5.7%	2.1%
Bicycle	1.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	10.9%	5.3%
Other means	0.4%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Story County	Woodbury County
1-unit, detached	52.6%	73.4%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	5.4%
5 to 19 units	16.4%	6.4%
20 or more units	14.6%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Story County	Woodbury County
Poverty rate	18.6%	13.3%
Average household size	2.23	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	18	18
Median year structure built	1983	1958