Data / Rankings / Employed residents / Cities in Iowa

Cities in Iowa by employed residents

Des Moines, IA had the highest employed residents of 23 cities in 2024, at 112,694. Clinton, IA had the lowest, at 10,350. The median was 24,914. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest112,694Des Moines, IA
Lowest10,350Clinton, IA
Median24,91423 cities

All cities, 2024

Des Moines, IA: 112,694 personsDes Moines, IA112,694Cedar Rapids, IA: 71,546 personsCedar Rapids, IA71,546Davenport, IA: 50,197 personsDavenport, IA50,197Sioux City, IA: 44,040 personsSioux City, IA44,040West Des Moines, IA: 42,853 personsWest Des Moines, IA42,853Ankeny, IA: 42,653 personsAnkeny, IA42,653Iowa City, IA: 42,309 personsIowa City, IA42,309Ames, IA: 36,541 personsAmes, IA36,541Waterloo, IA: 31,620 personsWaterloo, IA31,620Dubuque, IA: 30,310 personsDubuque, IA30,310Council Bluffs, IA: 30,013 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA30,013Urbandale, IA: 24,914 personsUrbandale, IA24,914Cedar Falls, IA: 22,336 personsCedar Falls, IA22,336Marion, IA: 21,288 personsMarion, IA21,288Bettendorf, IA: 20,163 personsBettendorf, IA20,163Waukee, IA: 19,065 personsWaukee, IA19,065Mason City, IA: 13,983 personsMason City, IA13,983Johnston, IA: 12,835 personsJohnston, IA12,835Marshalltown, IA: 12,408 personsMarshalltown, IA12,408Ottumwa, IA: 11,870 personsOttumwa, IA11,870Fort Dodge, IA: 11,051 personsFort Dodge, IA11,051Burlington, IA: 10,671 personsBurlington, IA10,671Clinton, IA: 10,350 personsClinton, IA10,350Des Moines, IA: 112,694 personsDes Moines, IA112,694Cedar Rapids, IA: 71,546 personsCedar Rapids, IA71,546Davenport, IA: 50,197 personsDavenport, IA50,197Sioux City, IA: 44,040 personsSioux City, IA44,040West Des Moines, IA: 42,853 personsWest Des Moines, IA42,853Ankeny, IA: 42,653 personsAnkeny, IA42,653Iowa City, IA: 42,309 personsIowa City, IA42,309Ames, IA: 36,541 personsAmes, IA36,541Waterloo, IA: 31,620 personsWaterloo, IA31,620Dubuque, IA: 30,310 personsDubuque, IA30,310Council Bluffs, IA: 30,013 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA30,013Urbandale, IA: 24,914 personsUrbandale, IA24,914Cedar Falls, IA: 22,336 personsCedar Falls, IA22,336Marion, IA: 21,288 personsMarion, IA21,288Bettendorf, IA: 20,163 personsBettendorf, IA20,163Waukee, IA: 19,065 personsWaukee, IA19,065Mason City, IA: 13,983 personsMason City, IA13,983Johnston, IA: 12,835 personsJohnston, IA12,835Marshalltown, IA: 12,408 personsMarshalltown, IA12,408Ottumwa, IA: 11,870 personsOttumwa, IA11,870Fort Dodge, IA: 11,051 personsFort Dodge, IA11,051Burlington, IA: 10,671 personsBurlington, IA10,671Clinton, IA: 10,350 personsClinton, IA10,350
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2024
persons		Change on 2023
1Des Moines, IA112,694-0.1%
2Cedar Rapids, IA71,546-1.2%
3Davenport, IA50,197-0.4%
4Sioux City, IA44,040-0.7%
5West Des Moines, IA42,853+0.5%
6Ankeny, IA42,653+1.5%
7Iowa City, IA42,309+0.4%
8Ames, IA36,541+0.1%
9Waterloo, IA31,620-1.4%
10Dubuque, IA30,310-1%
11Council Bluffs, IA30,013-0.3%
12Urbandale, IA24,914+0.7%
13Cedar Falls, IA22,336-1.6%
14Marion, IA21,288-1.2%
15Bettendorf, IA20,1630%
16Waukee, IA19,065+7.4%
17Mason City, IA13,983+0.9%
18Johnston, IA12,835n/a
19Marshalltown, IA12,408+1.4%
20Ottumwa, IA11,870+0.9%
21Fort Dodge, IA11,051-0.3%
22Burlington, IA10,671-0.3%
23Clinton, IA10,350-1%

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.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, 2024) [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, 2024. 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=2024. 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, 2024. 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=2024.

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, 2024 [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=2024 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2024,
  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, 2024}},
  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=2024. 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, 2024
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=2024
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/iowa-cities?period=2024.
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 112,694 in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Clinton, IA, with 10,350 in 2024.

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