Data / Rankings / Unemployed people / Cities in Iowa

Cities in Iowa by unemployed people

Des Moines, IA had the highest unemployed people of 21 cities in 2014, at 5,625. Fort Dodge, IA had the lowest, at 648. The median was 857. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest5,625Des Moines, IA
Lowest648Fort Dodge, IA
Median85721 cities

All cities, 2014

Des Moines, IA: 5,625 personsDes Moines, IA5,625Cedar Rapids, IA: 3,195 personsCedar Rapids, IA3,195Davenport, IA: 2,909 personsDavenport, IA2,909Waterloo, IA: 2,065 personsWaterloo, IA2,065Sioux City, IA: 1,969 personsSioux City, IA1,969Council Bluffs, IA: 1,455 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA1,455Dubuque, IA: 1,340 personsDubuque, IA1,340Iowa City, IA: 1,308 personsIowa City, IA1,308West Des Moines, IA: 1,172 personsWest Des Moines, IA1,172Ames, IA: 1,035 personsAmes, IA1,035Ankeny, IA: 857 personsAnkeny, IA857Cedar Falls, IA: 776 personsCedar Falls, IA776Urbandale, IA: 764 personsUrbandale, IA764Marshalltown, IA: 754 personsMarshalltown, IA754Marion, IA: 736 personsMarion, IA736Bettendorf, IA: 735 personsBettendorf, IA735Ottumwa, IA: 708 personsOttumwa, IA708Clinton, IA: 705 personsClinton, IA705Burlington, IA: 678 personsBurlington, IA678Mason City, IA: 674 personsMason City, IA674Fort Dodge, IA: 648 personsFort Dodge, IA648Des Moines, IA: 5,625 personsDes Moines, IA5,625Cedar Rapids, IA: 3,195 personsCedar Rapids, IA3,195Davenport, IA: 2,909 personsDavenport, IA2,909Waterloo, IA: 2,065 personsWaterloo, IA2,065Sioux City, IA: 1,969 personsSioux City, IA1,969Council Bluffs, IA: 1,455 personsCouncil Bluffs, IA1,455Dubuque, IA: 1,340 personsDubuque, IA1,340Iowa City, IA: 1,308 personsIowa City, IA1,308West Des Moines, IA: 1,172 personsWest Des Moines, IA1,172Ames, IA: 1,035 personsAmes, IA1,035Ankeny, IA: 857 personsAnkeny, IA857Cedar Falls, IA: 776 personsCedar Falls, IA776Urbandale, IA: 764 personsUrbandale, IA764Marshalltown, IA: 754 personsMarshalltown, IA754Marion, IA: 736 personsMarion, IA736Bettendorf, IA: 735 personsBettendorf, IA735Ottumwa, IA: 708 personsOttumwa, IA708Clinton, IA: 705 personsClinton, IA705Burlington, IA: 678 personsBurlington, IA678Mason City, IA: 674 personsMason City, IA674Fort Dodge, IA: 648 personsFort Dodge, IA648
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2014
persons		Change on 2013
1Des Moines, IA5,625-11%
2Cedar Rapids, IA3,195-12%
3Davenport, IA2,909-7%
4Waterloo, IA2,065-3.2%
5Sioux City, IA1,969-7%
6Council Bluffs, IA1,455-2.3%
7Dubuque, IA1,340-9.2%
8Iowa City, IA1,308-5.6%
9West Des Moines, IA1,172-4.4%
10Ames, IA1,035-8.4%
11Ankeny, IA857-8.3%
12Cedar Falls, IA776-5%
13Urbandale, IA764-9.4%
14Marshalltown, IA754-9.5%
15Marion, IA736-7%
16Bettendorf, IA735-0.9%
17Ottumwa, IA708-10%
18Clinton, IA705-10%
19Burlington, IA678-16.8%
20Mason City, IA674-16.1%
21Fort Dodge, IA648-5.8%

Other periods

About this ranking

Residents with no job who were available for work and had looked for work in the previous four weeks, or were waiting to be recalled from a layoff, 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. The survey definition, not a count of benefit claimants. 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 2014 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU10-14. 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average (Cities in Iowa by unemployed people, 2014) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU10-14

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average, Cities in Iowa by unemployed people, 2014. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU10-14. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/iowa-cities?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Cities in Iowa by unemployed people, 2014. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU10-14. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/iowa-cities?period=2014.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average, Cities in Iowa by unemployed people, 2014 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU10-14, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/iowa-cities?period=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_iowa_by_2014,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average: Cities in Iowa by unemployed people, 2014}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU10-14},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/iowa-cities?period=2014. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU10-14. 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average: Cities in Iowa by unemployed people, 2014
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.CurrentU10-14
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/iowa-cities?period=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/iowa-cities?period=2014.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU10-14. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Rank Cities in Iowa by unemployed people using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest unemployed people?

Des Moines, IA, with 5,625 in 2014, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest unemployed people?

Fort Dodge, IA, with 648 in 2014.

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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 2 cities have no value for 2014 and are not ranked.

Unemployed people: other rankings

Cities in Iowa: more rankings