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 2023, at 116,684. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 10,913. The median was 28,238. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest116,684Des Moines, IA
Lowest10,913Clinton, IA
Median28,23822 cities

All cities, 2023

Des Moines, IA: 116,684 personsDes Moines, IA116,684Cedar Rapids, IA: 75,092 personsCedar Rapids, IA75,092Davenport, IA: 52,325 personsDavenport, IA52,325Sioux City, IA: 45,760 personsSioux City, IA45,760West Des Moines, IA: 43,631 personsWest Des Moines, IA43,631Iowa City, IA: 43,145 personsIowa City, IA43,145Ankeny, IA: 43,028 personsAnkeny, IA43,028Ames, IA: 37,377 personsAmes, IA37,377Waterloo, IA: 33,310 personsWaterloo, IA33,310Dubuque, IA: 31,574 personsDubuque, IA31,574Council Bluffs, IA: 31,128 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA31,128Urbandale, IA: 25,347 personsUrbandale, IA25,347Cedar Falls, IA: 23,228 personsCedar Falls, IA23,228Marion, IA: 22,200 personsMarion, IA22,200Bettendorf, IA: 20,738 personsBettendorf, IA20,738Waukee, IA: 18,138 personsWaukee, IA18,138Mason City, IA: 14,311 personsMason City, IA14,311Marshalltown, IA: 13,122 personsMarshalltown, IA13,122Ottumwa, IA: 12,206 personsOttumwa, IA12,206Fort Dodge, IA: 11,489 personsFort Dodge, IA11,489Burlington, IA: 11,213 personsBurlington, IA11,213Clinton, IA: 10,913 personsClinton, IA10,913Des Moines, IA: 116,684 personsDes Moines, IA116,684Cedar Rapids, IA: 75,092 personsCedar Rapids, IA75,092Davenport, IA: 52,325 personsDavenport, IA52,325Sioux City, IA: 45,760 personsSioux City, IA45,760West Des Moines, IA: 43,631 personsWest Des Moines, IA43,631Iowa City, IA: 43,145 personsIowa City, IA43,145Ankeny, IA: 43,028 personsAnkeny, IA43,028Ames, IA: 37,377 personsAmes, IA37,377Waterloo, IA: 33,310 personsWaterloo, IA33,310Dubuque, IA: 31,574 personsDubuque, IA31,574Council Bluffs, IA: 31,128 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA31,128Urbandale, IA: 25,347 personsUrbandale, IA25,347Cedar Falls, IA: 23,228 personsCedar Falls, IA23,228Marion, IA: 22,200 personsMarion, IA22,200Bettendorf, IA: 20,738 personsBettendorf, IA20,738Waukee, IA: 18,138 personsWaukee, IA18,138Mason City, IA: 14,311 personsMason City, IA14,311Marshalltown, IA: 13,122 personsMarshalltown, IA13,122Ottumwa, IA: 12,206 personsOttumwa, IA12,206Fort Dodge, IA: 11,489 personsFort Dodge, IA11,489Burlington, IA: 11,213 personsBurlington, IA11,213Clinton, IA: 10,913 personsClinton, IA10,913
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

RankCities2023
persons		Change on 2022
1Des Moines, IA116,684+0.9%
2Cedar Rapids, IA75,092-1.1%
3Davenport, IA52,325-0.4%
4Sioux City, IA45,760+0.6%
5West Des Moines, IA43,631+3.3%
6Iowa City, IA43,145-0.1%
7Ankeny, IA43,028+4.2%
8Ames, IA37,377+1%
9Waterloo, IA33,310-0.6%
10Dubuque, IA31,574-0.7%
11Council Bluffs, IA31,128+0.3%
12Urbandale, IA25,347+1.4%
13Cedar Falls, IA23,228-0%
14Marion, IA22,200+0.2%
15Bettendorf, IA20,738+0.6%
16Waukee, IA18,138+9.9%
17Mason City, IA14,311-0.1%
18Marshalltown, IA13,122+0.5%
19Ottumwa, IA12,206-0.4%
20Fort Dodge, IA11,489-0.4%
21Burlington, IA11,213-2.3%
22Clinton, IA10,913-1.1%

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. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2023 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, 2023) [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, 2023. 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=2023. 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, 2023. 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=2023.

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, 2023 [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=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2023,
  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, 2023}},
  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=2023. 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, 2023
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=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/iowa-cities?period=2023.
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 116,684 in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Clinton, IA, with 10,913 in 2023.

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 2023 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings