Data / Rankings / Employed residents / Cities in Iowa

Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2025

Des Moines, IA had the highest employed residents of 23 cities in 2025, at 114,124. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 10,365. The median was 25,227. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest114,124Des Moines, IA
Lowest10,365Clinton, IA
Median25,22723 cities

All cities, 2025

Des Moines, IA: 114,124 personsDes Moines, IA114,124Cedar Rapids, IA: 72,144 personsCedar Rapids, IA72,144Davenport, IA: 51,338 personsDavenport, IA51,338Sioux City, IA: 44,637 personsSioux City, IA44,637Iowa City, IA: 43,591 personsIowa City, IA43,591West Des Moines, IA: 43,390 personsWest Des Moines, IA43,390Ankeny, IA: 43,194 personsAnkeny, IA43,194Ames, IA: 36,861 personsAmes, IA36,861Waterloo, IA: 31,891 personsWaterloo, IA31,891Council Bluffs, IA: 30,735 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA30,735Dubuque, IA: 30,441 personsDubuque, IA30,441Urbandale, IA: 25,227 personsUrbandale, IA25,227Cedar Falls, IA: 22,527 personsCedar Falls, IA22,527Marion, IA: 21,466 personsMarion, IA21,466Bettendorf, IA: 20,621 personsBettendorf, IA20,621Waukee, IA: 19,297 personsWaukee, IA19,297Mason City, IA: 14,246 personsMason City, IA14,246Johnston, IA: 12,998 personsJohnston, IA12,998Marshalltown, IA: 12,581 personsMarshalltown, IA12,581Ottumwa, IA: 11,978 personsOttumwa, IA11,978Fort Dodge, IA: 11,166 personsFort Dodge, IA11,166Burlington, IA: 10,969 personsBurlington, IA10,969Clinton, IA: 10,365 personsClinton, IA10,365Des Moines, IA: 114,124 personsDes Moines, IA114,124Cedar Rapids, IA: 72,144 personsCedar Rapids, IA72,144Davenport, IA: 51,338 personsDavenport, IA51,338Sioux City, IA: 44,637 personsSioux City, IA44,637Iowa City, IA: 43,591 personsIowa City, IA43,591West Des Moines, IA: 43,390 personsWest Des Moines, IA43,390Ankeny, IA: 43,194 personsAnkeny, IA43,194Ames, IA: 36,861 personsAmes, IA36,861Waterloo, IA: 31,891 personsWaterloo, IA31,891Council Bluffs, IA: 30,735 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA30,735Dubuque, IA: 30,441 personsDubuque, IA30,441Urbandale, IA: 25,227 personsUrbandale, IA25,227Cedar Falls, IA: 22,527 personsCedar Falls, IA22,527Marion, IA: 21,466 personsMarion, IA21,466Bettendorf, IA: 20,621 personsBettendorf, IA20,621Waukee, IA: 19,297 personsWaukee, IA19,297Mason City, IA: 14,246 personsMason City, IA14,246Johnston, IA: 12,998 personsJohnston, IA12,998Marshalltown, IA: 12,581 personsMarshalltown, IA12,581Ottumwa, IA: 11,978 personsOttumwa, IA11,978Fort Dodge, IA: 11,166 personsFort Dodge, IA11,166Burlington, IA: 10,969 personsBurlington, IA10,969Clinton, IA: 10,365 personsClinton, IA10,365
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2025
persons		Change on 2024
1Des Moines, IA114,124+1.3%
2Cedar Rapids, IA72,144+0.8%
3Davenport, IA51,338+2.3%
4Sioux City, IA44,637+1.4%
5Iowa City, IA43,591+3%
6West Des Moines, IA43,390+1.3%
7Ankeny, IA43,194+1.3%
8Ames, IA36,861+0.9%
9Waterloo, IA31,891+0.9%
10Council Bluffs, IA30,735+2.4%
11Dubuque, IA30,441+0.4%
12Urbandale, IA25,227+1.3%
13Cedar Falls, IA22,527+0.9%
14Marion, IA21,466+0.8%
15Bettendorf, IA20,621+2.3%
16Waukee, IA19,297+1.2%
17Mason City, IA14,246+1.9%
18Johnston, IA12,998+1.3%
19Marshalltown, IA12,581+1.4%
20Ottumwa, IA11,978+0.9%
21Fort Dodge, IA11,166+1%
22Burlington, IA10,969+2.8%
23Clinton, IA10,365+0.1%

Other periods

About this ranking

Residents who did any work for pay or profit in the reference week, or were temporarily absent from a job, 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, whatever the place of work, and someone with two jobs counts once. 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. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. 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: employment (measure 05), annual average (Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2025) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2025. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2025. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2025 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2025,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2025}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. 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: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2025
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.CurrentU25-29
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which city has the highest employed residents?

Des Moines, IA, with 114,124 in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Clinton, IA, with 10,365 in 2025.

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: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings