Data / Rankings / Civilian labor force / Cities in Iowa

Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force, 2025

Des Moines, IA had the highest civilian labor force of 23 cities in 2025, at 119,163. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 10,912. The median was 26,082. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest119,163Des Moines, IA
Lowest10,912Clinton, IA
Median26,08223 cities

All cities, 2025

Des Moines, IA: 119,163 personsDes Moines, IA119,163Cedar Rapids, IA: 75,156 personsCedar Rapids, IA75,156Davenport, IA: 53,863 personsDavenport, IA53,863Sioux City, IA: 46,329 personsSioux City, IA46,329Iowa City, IA: 44,783 personsIowa City, IA44,783West Des Moines, IA: 44,750 personsWest Des Moines, IA44,750Ankeny, IA: 44,569 personsAnkeny, IA44,569Ames, IA: 37,939 personsAmes, IA37,939Waterloo, IA: 33,552 personsWaterloo, IA33,552Council Bluffs, IA: 32,040 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA32,040Dubuque, IA: 31,559 personsDubuque, IA31,559Urbandale, IA: 26,082 personsUrbandale, IA26,082Cedar Falls, IA: 23,243 personsCedar Falls, IA23,243Marion, IA: 22,233 personsMarion, IA22,233Bettendorf, IA: 21,375 personsBettendorf, IA21,375Waukee, IA: 19,867 personsWaukee, IA19,867Mason City, IA: 14,754 personsMason City, IA14,754Marshalltown, IA: 13,577 personsMarshalltown, IA13,577Johnston, IA: 13,418 personsJohnston, IA13,418Ottumwa, IA: 12,521 personsOttumwa, IA12,521Fort Dodge, IA: 11,610 personsFort Dodge, IA11,610Burlington, IA: 11,507 personsBurlington, IA11,507Clinton, IA: 10,912 personsClinton, IA10,912Des Moines, IA: 119,163 personsDes Moines, IA119,163Cedar Rapids, IA: 75,156 personsCedar Rapids, IA75,156Davenport, IA: 53,863 personsDavenport, IA53,863Sioux City, IA: 46,329 personsSioux City, IA46,329Iowa City, IA: 44,783 personsIowa City, IA44,783West Des Moines, IA: 44,750 personsWest Des Moines, IA44,750Ankeny, IA: 44,569 personsAnkeny, IA44,569Ames, IA: 37,939 personsAmes, IA37,939Waterloo, IA: 33,552 personsWaterloo, IA33,552Council Bluffs, IA: 32,040 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA32,040Dubuque, IA: 31,559 personsDubuque, IA31,559Urbandale, IA: 26,082 personsUrbandale, IA26,082Cedar Falls, IA: 23,243 personsCedar Falls, IA23,243Marion, IA: 22,233 personsMarion, IA22,233Bettendorf, IA: 21,375 personsBettendorf, IA21,375Waukee, IA: 19,867 personsWaukee, IA19,867Mason City, IA: 14,754 personsMason City, IA14,754Marshalltown, IA: 13,577 personsMarshalltown, IA13,577Johnston, IA: 13,418 personsJohnston, IA13,418Ottumwa, IA: 12,521 personsOttumwa, IA12,521Fort Dodge, IA: 11,610 personsFort Dodge, IA11,610Burlington, IA: 11,507 personsBurlington, IA11,507Clinton, IA: 10,912 personsClinton, IA10,912
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2025
persons		Change on 2024
1Des Moines, IA119,163+1.8%
2Cedar Rapids, IA75,156+1.2%
3Davenport, IA53,863+2.8%
4Sioux City, IA46,329+1.8%
5Iowa City, IA44,783+3.4%
6West Des Moines, IA44,750+1.8%
7Ankeny, IA44,569+1.9%
8Ames, IA37,939+1.3%
9Waterloo, IA33,552+1.2%
10Council Bluffs, IA32,040+3.1%
11Dubuque, IA31,559+0.6%
12Urbandale, IA26,082+1.8%
13Cedar Falls, IA23,243+1.3%
14Marion, IA22,233+1.1%
15Bettendorf, IA21,375+2.6%
16Waukee, IA19,867+1.7%
17Mason City, IA14,754+2.3%
18Marshalltown, IA13,577+2.1%
19Johnston, IA13,418+1.8%
20Ottumwa, IA12,521+1.5%
21Fort Dodge, IA11,610+1.5%
22Burlington, IA11,507+3.2%
23Clinton, IA10,912+1%

Other periods

About this ranking

Employed plus unemployed residents, annual average.

More on how it is measured
  • People aged 16 and over by place of residence, from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Active-duty military personnel and people living in institutions are excluded.

United States cities only for now. Counts people where they live, not jobs: for wage and salary jobs by state use oews_employment. BLS estimates cities by splitting county estimates with Census Bureau employment and population data and unemployment insurance claims, so city figures are less precise than state ones. BLS publishes cities of 25,000 or more, and smaller cities in New England.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average (Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force, 2025) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force, 2025. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force, 2025. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force, 2025 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2025,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force, 2025}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force, 2025
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Rank Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

Des Moines, IA, with 119,163 in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Clinton, IA, with 10,912 in 2025.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings