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 2018, at 116,863. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 11,051. The median was 31,169. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest116,863Des Moines, IA
Lowest11,051Clinton, IA
Median31,16921 cities

All cities, 2018

Des Moines, IA: 116,863 personsDes Moines, IA116,863Cedar Rapids, IA: 74,963 personsCedar Rapids, IA74,963Davenport, IA: 51,540 personsDavenport, IA51,540Sioux City, IA: 44,265 personsSioux City, IA44,265Iowa City, IA: 43,287 personsIowa City, IA43,287West Des Moines, IA: 39,149 personsWest Des Moines, IA39,149Ankeny, IA: 36,181 personsAnkeny, IA36,181Ames, IA: 35,808 personsAmes, IA35,808Waterloo, IA: 33,477 personsWaterloo, IA33,477Dubuque, IA: 31,426 personsDubuque, IA31,426Council Bluffs, IA: 31,169 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA31,169Urbandale, IA: 23,784 personsUrbandale, IA23,784Cedar Falls, IA: 23,405 personsCedar Falls, IA23,405Marion, IA: 21,549 personsMarion, IA21,549Bettendorf, IA: 19,745 personsBettendorf, IA19,745Mason City, IA: 14,825 personsMason City, IA14,825Marshalltown, IA: 13,049 personsMarshalltown, IA13,049Ottumwa, IA: 12,608 personsOttumwa, IA12,608Burlington, IA: 11,885 personsBurlington, IA11,885Fort Dodge, IA: 11,475 personsFort Dodge, IA11,475Clinton, IA: 11,051 personsClinton, IA11,051Des Moines, IA: 116,863 personsDes Moines, IA116,863Cedar Rapids, IA: 74,963 personsCedar Rapids, IA74,963Davenport, IA: 51,540 personsDavenport, IA51,540Sioux City, IA: 44,265 personsSioux City, IA44,265Iowa City, IA: 43,287 personsIowa City, IA43,287West Des Moines, IA: 39,149 personsWest Des Moines, IA39,149Ankeny, IA: 36,181 personsAnkeny, IA36,181Ames, IA: 35,808 personsAmes, IA35,808Waterloo, IA: 33,477 personsWaterloo, IA33,477Dubuque, IA: 31,426 personsDubuque, IA31,426Council Bluffs, IA: 31,169 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA31,169Urbandale, IA: 23,784 personsUrbandale, IA23,784Cedar Falls, IA: 23,405 personsCedar Falls, IA23,405Marion, IA: 21,549 personsMarion, IA21,549Bettendorf, IA: 19,745 personsBettendorf, IA19,745Mason City, IA: 14,825 personsMason City, IA14,825Marshalltown, IA: 13,049 personsMarshalltown, IA13,049Ottumwa, IA: 12,608 personsOttumwa, IA12,608Burlington, IA: 11,885 personsBurlington, IA11,885Fort Dodge, IA: 11,475 personsFort Dodge, IA11,475Clinton, IA: 11,051 personsClinton, IA11,051
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2018
persons		Change on 2017
1Des Moines, IA116,863+0.8%
2Cedar Rapids, IA74,963+2%
3Davenport, IA51,540+1.5%
4Sioux City, IA44,265+1.8%
5Iowa City, IA43,287+0.3%
6West Des Moines, IA39,149+2.9%
7Ankeny, IA36,181+5.9%
8Ames, IA35,808+1.6%
9Waterloo, IA33,477+2.2%
10Dubuque, IA31,426+1.9%
11Council Bluffs, IA31,169+0.6%
12Urbandale, IA23,784+2%
13Cedar Falls, IA23,405+1.3%
14Marion, IA21,549+2.8%
15Bettendorf, IA19,745+3.2%
16Mason City, IA14,825+0.7%
17Marshalltown, IA13,049-0.6%
18Ottumwa, IA12,608+1.3%
19Burlington, IA11,885+0.1%
20Fort Dodge, IA11,475-0.3%
21Clinton, IA11,051-1.2%

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 2018 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, 2018) [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, 2018. 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=2018. 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, 2018. 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=2018.

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, 2018 [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=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2018,
  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, 2018}},
  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=2018. 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, 2018
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=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2018.
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 116,863 in 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Clinton, IA, with 11,051 in 2018.

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 2018 and are not ranked.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings