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 2016, at 120,650. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 12,057. The median was 32,014. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest120,650Des Moines, IA
Lowest12,057Clinton, IA
Median32,01421 cities

All cities, 2016

Des Moines, IA: 120,650 personsDes Moines, IA120,650Cedar Rapids, IA: 76,226 personsCedar Rapids, IA76,226Davenport, IA: 53,115 personsDavenport, IA53,115Sioux City, IA: 46,410 personsSioux City, IA46,410Iowa City, IA: 43,803 personsIowa City, IA43,803West Des Moines, IA: 38,504 personsWest Des Moines, IA38,504Ames, IA: 35,775 personsAmes, IA35,775Waterloo, IA: 34,744 personsWaterloo, IA34,744Ankeny, IA: 32,891 personsAnkeny, IA32,891Council Bluffs, IA: 32,452 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA32,452Dubuque, IA: 32,014 personsDubuque, IA32,014Cedar Falls, IA: 24,009 personsCedar Falls, IA24,009Urbandale, IA: 23,703 personsUrbandale, IA23,703Marion, IA: 21,480 personsMarion, IA21,480Bettendorf, IA: 19,585 personsBettendorf, IA19,585Mason City, IA: 15,153 personsMason City, IA15,153Marshalltown, IA: 14,460 personsMarshalltown, IA14,460Ottumwa, IA: 13,292 personsOttumwa, IA13,292Burlington, IA: 12,713 personsBurlington, IA12,713Fort Dodge, IA: 12,701 personsFort Dodge, IA12,701Clinton, IA: 12,057 personsClinton, IA12,057Des Moines, IA: 120,650 personsDes Moines, IA120,650Cedar Rapids, IA: 76,226 personsCedar Rapids, IA76,226Davenport, IA: 53,115 personsDavenport, IA53,115Sioux City, IA: 46,410 personsSioux City, IA46,410Iowa City, IA: 43,803 personsIowa City, IA43,803West Des Moines, IA: 38,504 personsWest Des Moines, IA38,504Ames, IA: 35,775 personsAmes, IA35,775Waterloo, IA: 34,744 personsWaterloo, IA34,744Ankeny, IA: 32,891 personsAnkeny, IA32,891Council Bluffs, IA: 32,452 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA32,452Dubuque, IA: 32,014 personsDubuque, IA32,014Cedar Falls, IA: 24,009 personsCedar Falls, IA24,009Urbandale, IA: 23,703 personsUrbandale, IA23,703Marion, IA: 21,480 personsMarion, IA21,480Bettendorf, IA: 19,585 personsBettendorf, IA19,585Mason City, IA: 15,153 personsMason City, IA15,153Marshalltown, IA: 14,460 personsMarshalltown, IA14,460Ottumwa, IA: 13,292 personsOttumwa, IA13,292Burlington, IA: 12,713 personsBurlington, IA12,713Fort Dodge, IA: 12,701 personsFort Dodge, IA12,701Clinton, IA: 12,057 personsClinton, IA12,057
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

RankCities2016
persons		Change on 2015
1Des Moines, IA120,650+9.8%
2Cedar Rapids, IA76,226+6%
3Davenport, IA53,115+3.6%
4Sioux City, IA46,410+2.9%
5Iowa City, IA43,803+2.5%
6West Des Moines, IA38,504+1.5%
7Ames, IA35,775-9.4%
8Waterloo, IA34,744+0.1%
9Ankeny, IA32,891+2%
10Council Bluffs, IA32,452+0.9%
11Dubuque, IA32,014-3.9%
12Cedar Falls, IA24,009+5.6%
13Urbandale, IA23,703-6.2%
14Marion, IA21,480+7.4%
15Bettendorf, IA19,585+8.5%
16Mason City, IA15,153+3.8%
17Marshalltown, IA14,460+14.4%
18Ottumwa, IA13,292+7.6%
19Burlington, IA12,713-0.3%
20Fort Dodge, IA12,701-2.1%
21Clinton, IA12,057-5.5%

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 2016 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, 2016) [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, 2016. 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=2016. 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, 2016. 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=2016.

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, 2016 [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=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2016,
  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, 2016}},
  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=2016. 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, 2016
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=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2016.
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 120,650 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Clinton, IA, with 12,057 in 2016.

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 2016 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings