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 2019, at 121,301. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 11,572. The median was 32,433. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest121,301Des Moines, IA
Lowest11,572Clinton, IA
Median32,43321 cities

All cities, 2019

Des Moines, IA: 121,301 personsDes Moines, IA121,301Cedar Rapids, IA: 78,829 personsCedar Rapids, IA78,829Davenport, IA: 54,404 personsDavenport, IA54,404Sioux City, IA: 46,080 personsSioux City, IA46,080Iowa City, IA: 44,431 personsIowa City, IA44,431West Des Moines, IA: 41,318 personsWest Des Moines, IA41,318Ankeny, IA: 38,573 personsAnkeny, IA38,573Ames, IA: 36,898 personsAmes, IA36,898Waterloo, IA: 35,304 personsWaterloo, IA35,304Dubuque, IA: 32,604 personsDubuque, IA32,604Council Bluffs, IA: 32,433 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA32,433Urbandale, IA: 24,888 personsUrbandale, IA24,888Cedar Falls, IA: 24,110 personsCedar Falls, IA24,110Marion, IA: 22,716 personsMarion, IA22,716Bettendorf, IA: 20,693 personsBettendorf, IA20,693Mason City, IA: 15,464 personsMason City, IA15,464Marshalltown, IA: 13,655 personsMarshalltown, IA13,655Ottumwa, IA: 13,136 personsOttumwa, IA13,136Burlington, IA: 12,295 personsBurlington, IA12,295Fort Dodge, IA: 12,122 personsFort Dodge, IA12,122Clinton, IA: 11,572 personsClinton, IA11,572Des Moines, IA: 121,301 personsDes Moines, IA121,301Cedar Rapids, IA: 78,829 personsCedar Rapids, IA78,829Davenport, IA: 54,404 personsDavenport, IA54,404Sioux City, IA: 46,080 personsSioux City, IA46,080Iowa City, IA: 44,431 personsIowa City, IA44,431West Des Moines, IA: 41,318 personsWest Des Moines, IA41,318Ankeny, IA: 38,573 personsAnkeny, IA38,573Ames, IA: 36,898 personsAmes, IA36,898Waterloo, IA: 35,304 personsWaterloo, IA35,304Dubuque, IA: 32,604 personsDubuque, IA32,604Council Bluffs, IA: 32,433 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA32,433Urbandale, IA: 24,888 personsUrbandale, IA24,888Cedar Falls, IA: 24,110 personsCedar Falls, IA24,110Marion, IA: 22,716 personsMarion, IA22,716Bettendorf, IA: 20,693 personsBettendorf, IA20,693Mason City, IA: 15,464 personsMason City, IA15,464Marshalltown, IA: 13,655 personsMarshalltown, IA13,655Ottumwa, IA: 13,136 personsOttumwa, IA13,136Burlington, IA: 12,295 personsBurlington, IA12,295Fort Dodge, IA: 12,122 personsFort Dodge, IA12,122Clinton, IA: 11,572 personsClinton, IA11,572
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

RankCities2019
persons		Change on 2018
1Des Moines, IA121,301+0.7%
2Cedar Rapids, IA78,829+2.1%
3Davenport, IA54,404+2.1%
4Sioux City, IA46,080+1.3%
5Iowa City, IA44,431+0.7%
6West Des Moines, IA41,318+3.5%
7Ankeny, IA38,573+4.5%
8Ames, IA36,898+1.4%
9Waterloo, IA35,304+1.9%
10Dubuque, IA32,604+1.1%
11Council Bluffs, IA32,433+1.4%
12Urbandale, IA24,888+2.4%
13Cedar Falls, IA24,110+1.1%
14Marion, IA22,716+2.9%
15Bettendorf, IA20,693+2.5%
16Mason City, IA15,464+1.4%
17Marshalltown, IA13,655-0.2%
18Ottumwa, IA13,136+0.4%
19Burlington, IA12,295-0.2%
20Fort Dodge, IA12,122+1.7%
21Clinton, IA11,572+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. 2 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2019 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, 2019) [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, 2019. 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=2019. 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, 2019. 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=2019.

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, 2019 [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=2019 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2019,
  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, 2019}},
  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=2019. 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, 2019
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=2019
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2019.
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 121,301 in 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Clinton, IA, with 11,572 in 2019.

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 2019 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings