Data / Rankings / Employed residents / Cities in Iowa

Cities in Iowa by employed residents

Des Moines, IA had the highest employed residents of 22 cities in 2023, at 112,805. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 10,450. The median was 27,425. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest112,805Des Moines, IA
Lowest10,450Clinton, IA
Median27,42522 cities

All cities, 2023

Des Moines, IA: 112,805 personsDes Moines, IA112,805Cedar Rapids, IA: 72,440 personsCedar Rapids, IA72,440Davenport, IA: 50,393 personsDavenport, IA50,393Sioux City, IA: 44,352 personsSioux City, IA44,352West Des Moines, IA: 42,619 personsWest Des Moines, IA42,619Iowa City, IA: 42,127 personsIowa City, IA42,127Ankeny, IA: 42,031 personsAnkeny, IA42,031Ames, IA: 36,511 personsAmes, IA36,511Waterloo, IA: 32,072 personsWaterloo, IA32,072Dubuque, IA: 30,617 personsDubuque, IA30,617Council Bluffs, IA: 30,118 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA30,118Urbandale, IA: 24,732 personsUrbandale, IA24,732Cedar Falls, IA: 22,688 personsCedar Falls, IA22,688Marion, IA: 21,541 personsMarion, IA21,541Bettendorf, IA: 20,155 personsBettendorf, IA20,155Waukee, IA: 17,751 personsWaukee, IA17,751Mason City, IA: 13,861 personsMason City, IA13,861Marshalltown, IA: 12,235 personsMarshalltown, IA12,235Ottumwa, IA: 11,767 personsOttumwa, IA11,767Fort Dodge, IA: 11,079 personsFort Dodge, IA11,079Burlington, IA: 10,703 personsBurlington, IA10,703Clinton, IA: 10,450 personsClinton, IA10,450Des Moines, IA: 112,805 personsDes Moines, IA112,805Cedar Rapids, IA: 72,440 personsCedar Rapids, IA72,440Davenport, IA: 50,393 personsDavenport, IA50,393Sioux City, IA: 44,352 personsSioux City, IA44,352West Des Moines, IA: 42,619 personsWest Des Moines, IA42,619Iowa City, IA: 42,127 personsIowa City, IA42,127Ankeny, IA: 42,031 personsAnkeny, IA42,031Ames, IA: 36,511 personsAmes, IA36,511Waterloo, IA: 32,072 personsWaterloo, IA32,072Dubuque, IA: 30,617 personsDubuque, IA30,617Council Bluffs, IA: 30,118 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA30,118Urbandale, IA: 24,732 personsUrbandale, IA24,732Cedar Falls, IA: 22,688 personsCedar Falls, IA22,688Marion, IA: 21,541 personsMarion, IA21,541Bettendorf, IA: 20,155 personsBettendorf, IA20,155Waukee, IA: 17,751 personsWaukee, IA17,751Mason City, IA: 13,861 personsMason City, IA13,861Marshalltown, IA: 12,235 personsMarshalltown, IA12,235Ottumwa, IA: 11,767 personsOttumwa, IA11,767Fort Dodge, IA: 11,079 personsFort Dodge, IA11,079Burlington, IA: 10,703 personsBurlington, IA10,703Clinton, IA: 10,450 personsClinton, IA10,450
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2023
persons		Change on 2022
1Des Moines, IA112,805+0.8%
2Cedar Rapids, IA72,440-1.4%
3Davenport, IA50,393-0.5%
4Sioux City, IA44,352+0.6%
5West Des Moines, IA42,619+3.3%
6Iowa City, IA42,127-0.1%
7Ankeny, IA42,031+4.1%
8Ames, IA36,511+1%
9Waterloo, IA32,072-0.9%
10Dubuque, IA30,617-0.5%
11Council Bluffs, IA30,118+0.2%
12Urbandale, IA24,732+1.4%
13Cedar Falls, IA22,688-0.1%
14Marion, IA21,541-0.1%
15Bettendorf, IA20,155+0.3%
16Waukee, IA17,751+9.8%
17Mason City, IA13,861-0.4%
18Marshalltown, IA12,235-0.5%
19Ottumwa, IA11,767-0.5%
20Fort Dodge, IA11,079-0.4%
21Burlington, IA10,703-2.2%
22Clinton, IA10,450-1.4%

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. 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: employment (measure 05), 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: employment (measure 05), annual average (Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 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: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 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/employed-residents/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: employment (measure 05), annual average. Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 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/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2023.

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, 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/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: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 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/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2023. 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.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: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Iowa by employed residents, 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/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2023.
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.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which city has the highest employed residents?

Des Moines, IA, with 112,805 in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Clinton, IA, with 10,450 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: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 cities have no value for 2023 and are not ranked.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings