Data / Rankings / Civilian labor force / Cities in Iowa

Cities in Iowa by civilian labor force

Des Moines, IA had the highest civilian labor force of 21 cities in 2015, at 109,843. Ottumwa, IA had the lowest, at 12,349. The median was 32,178. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest109,843Des Moines, IA
Lowest12,349Ottumwa, IA
Median32,17821 cities

All cities, 2015

Des Moines, IA: 109,843 personsDes Moines, IA109,843Cedar Rapids, IA: 71,895 personsCedar Rapids, IA71,895Davenport, IA: 51,292 personsDavenport, IA51,292Sioux City, IA: 45,102 personsSioux City, IA45,102Iowa City, IA: 42,740 personsIowa City, IA42,740Ames, IA: 39,465 personsAmes, IA39,465West Des Moines, IA: 37,946 personsWest Des Moines, IA37,946Waterloo, IA: 34,718 personsWaterloo, IA34,718Dubuque, IA: 33,300 personsDubuque, IA33,300Ankeny, IA: 32,253 personsAnkeny, IA32,253Council Bluffs, IA: 32,178 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA32,178Urbandale, IA: 25,258 personsUrbandale, IA25,258Cedar Falls, IA: 22,743 personsCedar Falls, IA22,743Marion, IA: 19,993 personsMarion, IA19,993Bettendorf, IA: 18,047 personsBettendorf, IA18,047Mason City, IA: 14,603 personsMason City, IA14,603Fort Dodge, IA: 12,979 personsFort Dodge, IA12,979Clinton, IA: 12,756 personsClinton, IA12,756Burlington, IA: 12,745 personsBurlington, IA12,745Marshalltown, IA: 12,636 personsMarshalltown, IA12,636Ottumwa, IA: 12,349 personsOttumwa, IA12,349Des Moines, IA: 109,843 personsDes Moines, IA109,843Cedar Rapids, IA: 71,895 personsCedar Rapids, IA71,895Davenport, IA: 51,292 personsDavenport, IA51,292Sioux City, IA: 45,102 personsSioux City, IA45,102Iowa City, IA: 42,740 personsIowa City, IA42,740Ames, IA: 39,465 personsAmes, IA39,465West Des Moines, IA: 37,946 personsWest Des Moines, IA37,946Waterloo, IA: 34,718 personsWaterloo, IA34,718Dubuque, IA: 33,300 personsDubuque, IA33,300Ankeny, IA: 32,253 personsAnkeny, IA32,253Council Bluffs, IA: 32,178 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA32,178Urbandale, IA: 25,258 personsUrbandale, IA25,258Cedar Falls, IA: 22,743 personsCedar Falls, IA22,743Marion, IA: 19,993 personsMarion, IA19,993Bettendorf, IA: 18,047 personsBettendorf, IA18,047Mason City, IA: 14,603 personsMason City, IA14,603Fort Dodge, IA: 12,979 personsFort Dodge, IA12,979Clinton, IA: 12,756 personsClinton, IA12,756Burlington, IA: 12,745 personsBurlington, IA12,745Marshalltown, IA: 12,636 personsMarshalltown, IA12,636Ottumwa, IA: 12,349 personsOttumwa, IA12,349
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

RankCities2015
persons		Change on 2014
1Des Moines, IA109,843-1.2%
2Cedar Rapids, IA71,895-0.7%
3Davenport, IA51,292-1.3%
4Sioux City, IA45,102+0.4%
5Iowa City, IA42,740-0.5%
6Ames, IA39,465+2.2%
7West Des Moines, IA37,946-0.3%
8Waterloo, IA34,718-2.6%
9Dubuque, IA33,300+0.1%
10Ankeny, IA32,253+3.9%
11Council Bluffs, IA32,178-0.4%
12Urbandale, IA25,258+0.6%
13Cedar Falls, IA22,743-1.7%
14Marion, IA19,993-0.1%
15Bettendorf, IA18,047-0.4%
16Mason City, IA14,603-0.7%
17Fort Dodge, IA12,979+2.3%
18Clinton, IA12,756-1.4%
19Burlington, IA12,745-1.4%
20Marshalltown, IA12,636-2%
21Ottumwa, IA12,349-0.9%

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. 2 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2015 and are left out rather than filled from another source. 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.CurrentU15-19. 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, 2015) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19

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, 2015. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2015. 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, 2015. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2015.

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, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2015,
  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, 2015}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2015. 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.CurrentU15-19. 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, 2015
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.CurrentU15-19
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2015.
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.CurrentU15-19. 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 109,843 in 2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Ottumwa, IA, with 12,349 in 2015.

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. 2 cities have no value for 2015 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings