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 22 cities in 2021, at 115,335. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 10,987. The median was 27,612. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest115,335Des Moines, IA
Lowest10,987Clinton, IA
Median27,61222 cities

All cities, 2021

Des Moines, IA: 115,335 personsDes Moines, IA115,335Cedar Rapids, IA: 75,476 personsCedar Rapids, IA75,476Davenport, IA: 52,136 personsDavenport, IA52,136Sioux City, IA: 44,764 personsSioux City, IA44,764Iowa City, IA: 42,367 personsIowa City, IA42,367West Des Moines, IA: 41,018 personsWest Des Moines, IA41,018Ankeny, IA: 39,521 personsAnkeny, IA39,521Ames, IA: 35,890 personsAmes, IA35,890Waterloo, IA: 33,652 personsWaterloo, IA33,652Dubuque, IA: 31,497 personsDubuque, IA31,497Council Bluffs, IA: 31,065 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA31,065Urbandale, IA: 24,158 personsUrbandale, IA24,158Cedar Falls, IA: 22,998 personsCedar Falls, IA22,998Marion, IA: 21,878 personsMarion, IA21,878Bettendorf, IA: 20,069 personsBettendorf, IA20,069Waukee, IA: 14,707 personsWaukee, IA14,707Mason City, IA: 14,582 personsMason City, IA14,582Marshalltown, IA: 13,024 personsMarshalltown, IA13,024Ottumwa, IA: 12,354 personsOttumwa, IA12,354Burlington, IA: 11,568 personsBurlington, IA11,568Fort Dodge, IA: 11,446 personsFort Dodge, IA11,446Clinton, IA: 10,987 personsClinton, IA10,987Des Moines, IA: 115,335 personsDes Moines, IA115,335Cedar Rapids, IA: 75,476 personsCedar Rapids, IA75,476Davenport, IA: 52,136 personsDavenport, IA52,136Sioux City, IA: 44,764 personsSioux City, IA44,764Iowa City, IA: 42,367 personsIowa City, IA42,367West Des Moines, IA: 41,018 personsWest Des Moines, IA41,018Ankeny, IA: 39,521 personsAnkeny, IA39,521Ames, IA: 35,890 personsAmes, IA35,890Waterloo, IA: 33,652 personsWaterloo, IA33,652Dubuque, IA: 31,497 personsDubuque, IA31,497Council Bluffs, IA: 31,065 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA31,065Urbandale, IA: 24,158 personsUrbandale, IA24,158Cedar Falls, IA: 22,998 personsCedar Falls, IA22,998Marion, IA: 21,878 personsMarion, IA21,878Bettendorf, IA: 20,069 personsBettendorf, IA20,069Waukee, IA: 14,707 personsWaukee, IA14,707Mason City, IA: 14,582 personsMason City, IA14,582Marshalltown, IA: 13,024 personsMarshalltown, IA13,024Ottumwa, IA: 12,354 personsOttumwa, IA12,354Burlington, IA: 11,568 personsBurlington, IA11,568Fort Dodge, IA: 11,446 personsFort Dodge, IA11,446Clinton, IA: 10,987 personsClinton, IA10,987
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

RankCities2021
persons		Change on 2020
1Des Moines, IA115,335-0.7%
2Cedar Rapids, IA75,476-0.5%
3Davenport, IA52,136-0%
4Sioux City, IA44,764+1.2%
5Iowa City, IA42,367-0.7%
6West Des Moines, IA41,018+2%
7Ankeny, IA39,521+3.9%
8Ames, IA35,890+1.1%
9Waterloo, IA33,652-1.1%
10Dubuque, IA31,497-0.6%
11Council Bluffs, IA31,065-0.8%
12Urbandale, IA24,158+1.4%
13Cedar Falls, IA22,998+0.5%
14Marion, IA21,878+0.9%
15Bettendorf, IA20,069+2.1%
16Waukee, IA14,707n/a
17Mason City, IA14,582-2.4%
18Marshalltown, IA13,024-0.9%
19Ottumwa, IA12,354-2.5%
20Burlington, IA11,568-1.2%
21Fort Dodge, IA11,446-0.5%
22Clinton, IA10,987-0.7%

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. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2021 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.CurrentU20-24. 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, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24

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, 2021. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2021. 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, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2021.

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, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2021. 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.CurrentU20-24. 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, 2021
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.CurrentU20-24
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2021.
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.CurrentU20-24. 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 115,335 in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Clinton, IA, with 10,987 in 2021.

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. 1 cities have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings