Data / Rankings / Employed residents / Cities in Iowa

Cities in Iowa by employed residents

Des Moines, IA had the highest employed residents of 21 cities in 2017, at 115,990. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 11,185. The median was 30,845. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest115,990Des Moines, IA
Lowest11,185Clinton, IA
Median30,84521 cities

All cities, 2017

Des Moines, IA: 115,990 personsDes Moines, IA115,990Cedar Rapids, IA: 73,500 personsCedar Rapids, IA73,500Davenport, IA: 50,783 personsDavenport, IA50,783Sioux City, IA: 43,490 personsSioux City, IA43,490Iowa City, IA: 43,179 personsIowa City, IA43,179West Des Moines, IA: 38,062 personsWest Des Moines, IA38,062Ames, IA: 35,251 personsAmes, IA35,251Ankeny, IA: 34,151 personsAnkeny, IA34,151Waterloo, IA: 32,743 personsWaterloo, IA32,743Council Bluffs, IA: 30,972 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA30,972Dubuque, IA: 30,845 personsDubuque, IA30,845Urbandale, IA: 23,309 personsUrbandale, IA23,309Cedar Falls, IA: 23,112 personsCedar Falls, IA23,112Marion, IA: 20,958 personsMarion, IA20,958Bettendorf, IA: 19,124 personsBettendorf, IA19,124Mason City, IA: 14,720 personsMason City, IA14,720Marshalltown, IA: 13,127 personsMarshalltown, IA13,127Ottumwa, IA: 12,448 personsOttumwa, IA12,448Burlington, IA: 11,876 personsBurlington, IA11,876Fort Dodge, IA: 11,514 personsFort Dodge, IA11,514Clinton, IA: 11,185 personsClinton, IA11,185Des Moines, IA: 115,990 personsDes Moines, IA115,990Cedar Rapids, IA: 73,500 personsCedar Rapids, IA73,500Davenport, IA: 50,783 personsDavenport, IA50,783Sioux City, IA: 43,490 personsSioux City, IA43,490Iowa City, IA: 43,179 personsIowa City, IA43,179West Des Moines, IA: 38,062 personsWest Des Moines, IA38,062Ames, IA: 35,251 personsAmes, IA35,251Ankeny, IA: 34,151 personsAnkeny, IA34,151Waterloo, IA: 32,743 personsWaterloo, IA32,743Council Bluffs, IA: 30,972 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA30,972Dubuque, IA: 30,845 personsDubuque, IA30,845Urbandale, IA: 23,309 personsUrbandale, IA23,309Cedar Falls, IA: 23,112 personsCedar Falls, IA23,112Marion, IA: 20,958 personsMarion, IA20,958Bettendorf, IA: 19,124 personsBettendorf, IA19,124Mason City, IA: 14,720 personsMason City, IA14,720Marshalltown, IA: 13,127 personsMarshalltown, IA13,127Ottumwa, IA: 12,448 personsOttumwa, IA12,448Burlington, IA: 11,876 personsBurlington, IA11,876Fort Dodge, IA: 11,514 personsFort Dodge, IA11,514Clinton, IA: 11,185 personsClinton, IA11,185
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2017
persons		Change on 2016
1Des Moines, IA115,990-0.1%
2Cedar Rapids, IA73,500-0.1%
3Davenport, IA50,783+0.3%
4Sioux City, IA43,490-2.9%
5Iowa City, IA43,179+0.9%
6West Des Moines, IA38,062+1.4%
7Ames, IA35,251+0.8%
8Ankeny, IA34,151+6.2%
9Waterloo, IA32,743-0.5%
10Council Bluffs, IA30,972-1.1%
11Dubuque, IA30,845-0.1%
12Urbandale, IA23,309+1%
13Cedar Falls, IA23,112-0.8%
14Marion, IA20,958+0.5%
15Bettendorf, IA19,124+0.9%
16Mason City, IA14,720+0.7%
17Marshalltown, IA13,127-4.8%
18Ottumwa, IA12,448-0.8%
19Burlington, IA11,876-1.6%
20Fort Dodge, IA11,514-5.3%
21Clinton, IA11,185-2.1%

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. 2 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2017 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: employment (measure 05), 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: employment (measure 05), annual average (Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2017) [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: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2017. 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/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2017. 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, 2017. 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/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2017.

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, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2017,
  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, 2017}},
  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/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2017. 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.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: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 2017
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/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2017.
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.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which city has the highest employed residents?

Des Moines, IA, with 115,990 in 2017, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Clinton, IA, with 11,185 in 2017.

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. 2 cities have no value for 2017 and are not ranked.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings