Carroll, Iowa

Area Profile

10,208 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Carroll, in Carroll County.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 39% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 42% of 4,199 cities measured60
SchoolsTop 34% of 4,162 cities measured62
Growth3,895th of 4,224 cities measured23
Housing affordabilityTop 4% of 4,218 cities measured86
Climate3,928th of 4,225 cities measured56
Physical resilienceTop 20% of 4,226 cities measured82
Access4,001st of 4,226 cities measured57
Economic stability2,195th of 4,226 cities measured57
The quick read

Unemployment is 2.5% and median household income $69,706, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured. The unemployment rate is published for Carroll County, IA, which contains Carroll, rather than for Carroll alone.

In the public schools here, 78% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.5 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 8 units authorized over the past twelve months, against 11 the year before.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
10,208
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$69,706
Top 46% nationally
Density
1,698/sq mi
6 sq mi of land
Median age
43.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Iowa
Micro area
Nearest major airport
DSM
72 mi · Des Moines Intl
Median home value
$188,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Carroll County, IA, which contains Carroll, is 2.5%, lower than in 99% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Carroll County, IA, which contains Carroll, fell 2.1% over the past year, to 10,812 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsCarroll County, IA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$48,7496th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftCarroll County, IA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$54,30014th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$8,5212024 ACS 5-Year$69,706Top 46%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,5132024 ACS 5-Year$42,789Top 27%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year8.9%Top 42%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year12.8 minTop 4%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year27.1%Top 35%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year82.8%69th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentCarroll County, IA’s figureJuly 202610,812Bottom 4%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Carroll County, IA’s figureJuly 2026−0.9%Bottom 40%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Carroll County, IA’s figureJuly 2026−2.1%Bottom 19%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceCarroll County, IA’s figureJuly 202611,0913rd percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year79.5%Top 46%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year1.3%86th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Carroll County, IA’s figureJuly 20260.0%Bottom 45%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateCarroll County, IA’s figureJuly 20262.5%Top 1%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year6.4%43rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202470k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $69,706 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Carroll County, IA, which contains this city.

78% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 71% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.5 students for every full-time teacher across 4 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
77.6%
Top 34% in Iowa
Reading proficiency
70.6%
Top 46% in Iowa
All 4 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Carroll High SchoolCarroll Comm School District48313.877%72%
Carroll Middle SchoolCarroll Comm School District45916.482%73%
Fairview Elementary SchoolCarroll Comm School District41914.0——
Adams Elementary SchoolCarroll Comm School District23213.670%63%

37.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Iowa’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Iowa is up 40% over five years, and up 3.1% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,409 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.28% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $919, some 27% above the $722 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $919 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $36,800 a year, about 53% of the median household income here of $69,706.

The typical renter household here spends 24% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $722 a month.

A median home at $188,700 costs 2.2 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $85,625, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
24.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.2×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$919
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$722
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$188,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Carroll’s median household income of $69,706, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Iowa’s figure2026 Q2+3.1%49th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Iowa’s figure2026 Q2+39.6%39th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Iowa’s figure2026 Q2+74.3%20th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.52024 ACS 5-Year2.2Top 40%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year71.8%41st percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2112024 ACS 5-Year4,96588th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$788Top 7%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,162Top 2%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$919Top 3%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$202024 ACS 5-Year$722Top 18%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,7132024 ACS 5-Year$188,70051st percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$2272024 ACS 5-Year$2,40964th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$17,7082024 ACS 5-Year$85,625Top 41%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.15%2024 ACS 5-Year1.28%67th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year24.1%Top 29%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±162024 ACS 5-Year01st percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year5.4%41st percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1432024 ACS 5-Year26982nd percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

23/ 100
Ranks 3,895 of 4,224 published city profiles
Permitting has been falling for the last 2 years of a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, to 10,125 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 8 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Carroll County, which contains Carroll, in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $48,749, below the $54,300 of households that moved out.

At 0.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
8
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.8
Bottom 22% nationally
Year over year
−27%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202410k10k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been falling for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
34%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$48,749
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$54,300
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Crawford County, IA 83 people · 11% of arrivals
  2. Calhoun County, IA 45 people · 6.1% of arrivals
  3. Polk County, IA 44 people · 6.0% of arrivals
  4. Sac County, IA 39 people · 5.3% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Polk County, IA 110 people · 15% of departures
  2. Crawford County, IA 59 people · 8.2% of departures
  3. Calhoun County, IA 42 people · 5.8% of departures
  4. Dallas County, IA 37 people · 5.1% of departures
  5. Greene County, IA 31 people · 4.3% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for Carroll County, IA. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420252413
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was close to 2022 (0%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 10°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 33.7 inches.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CARROLL, 0.8 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals33.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals10°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals55°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

82 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, inland flooding and hail, with tornado alone responsible for 27% of it. Inland flooding and hail are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 80% of measured US cities.

DroughtModerate
TornadoElevated
Strong windHigh
Ice stormModerate
Cold waveHigh
LightningModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: hail, winter weather, landslide, inland flooding, wildfire, earthquake, hurricane, coastal flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
60
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,220
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Carroll's police department reported 60 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, lower than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,220.

Carroll County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 10.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 9.7 per 100,000 residents in Carroll County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
9.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
17.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Carroll’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Carroll (Carroll County) rather than Carroll itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Des Moines Intl at 72 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year87.0%Bottom 38%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle72 miBottom 5%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 20%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year11.5%Bottom 32%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Des Moines IntlDSM72 mi9,004 ft
Eppley AirfieldOMA75 mi9,502 ft
Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day FldSUX81 mi9,002 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
62
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

ZIP codes in Carroll

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Carroll with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Carroll closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
5140111,990$70,702$195,700—