Lee County, IA

County Profile

32,893 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lee County, IA.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

51out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 23% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity895th of 1,463 counties measured49
Schools1,076th of 1,377 counties measured28
GrowthTop 49% of 1,453 counties measured51
Housing affordability721st of 1,462 counties measured73
Climate1,113th of 1,463 counties measured60
Physical resilience975th of 1,463 counties measured47
Access1,265th of 1,463 counties measured56
Economic stability866th of 1,463 counties measured54
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.9% and median household income $62,382, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

In the public schools here, 63% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.1 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 30% of renter income here, at the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 1.9 times what its owners earn.

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
32,893
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$62,382
Bottom 42% nationally
Density
64/sq mi
517.6 sq mi of land
Median age
43.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Lee County
Iowa
Nearest major airport
MLI
75 mi · Quad Cities Intl
Median home value
$141,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.9%, lower than in 57% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 0.2% over the past year, to 14,003 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$53,95136th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$47,51516th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$3,2742024 ACS 5-Year$62,382Bottom 42%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,3382024 ACS 5-Year$34,999Top 49%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$52,188Bottom 33%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year12.8%Top 50%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.1 min2024 ACS 5-Year21.5 minTop 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year21.7%Bottom 47%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year81.8%80th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202614,003Bottom 18%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−1.1%Bottom 36%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−0.2%Top 43%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202614,56818th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year76.7%Top 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.2%50th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.1%Bottom 45%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.9%Top 43%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year6.1%27th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/076.12.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.9% in July 2026. It has been rising for the last 3 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202462k54k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $62,382 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.

63% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 64% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.1 students for every full-time teacher across 9 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
62.6%
Bottom 23% in Iowa
Reading proficiency
64.0%
Bottom 23% in Iowa
All 9 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Fort Madison Junior/Senior High SchoolFort Madison Comm School District85214.057%57%
Keokuk High SchoolKeokuk Comm School District58315.357%62%
Central Lee Elementary SchoolCentral Lee Comm School District56418.871%76%
Hawthorne Elementary SchoolKeokuk Comm School District45412.361%61%
Central Lee Middle SchoolCentral Lee Comm School District39421.972%72%
Keokuk Middle SchoolKeokuk Comm School District38114.755%52%
Central Lee High SchoolCentral Lee Comm School District35315.372%77%
George Washington Elementary SchoolKeokuk Comm School District22210.162%57%
Torrence ElementaryKeokuk Comm School District8026.7——

48.0% 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 $1,955 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.38% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $962, some 15% above the $835 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $962 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $38,500 a year, about 62% of the median household income here of $62,382.

The typical renter household here spends 30% of its income on rent, at the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $835 a month.

A median home at $141,400 costs 1.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $73,823, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
29.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.9×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$962
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$835
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$141,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Lee County’s median household income of $62,382, 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%38th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Iowa’s figure2026 Q2+39.6%27th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Iowa’s figure2026 Q2+74.3%20th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year1.9Top 18%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year76.3%60th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±372024 ACS 5-Year15,79457th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$733Top 11%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,270Top 20%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$962Top 17%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$402024 ACS 5-Year$835Top 42%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,9362024 ACS 5-Year$141,40026th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$792024 ACS 5-Year$1,95563rd percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$4,0812024 ACS 5-Year$73,823Bottom 44%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.12%2024 ACS 5-Year1.38%85th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year29.6%Bottom 32%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±882024 ACS 5-Year21438th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.4%32nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year8.0%41st percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2052024 ACS 5-Year1,47144th percentileof 3,2222024 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

51/ 100
Top 49% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 3 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 3% since 2020, to 32,376 in 2024.

Permit activity rose in each of the 3 calendar years through 2025.

80% of the 71 units permitted over the past twelve months are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Lee County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $53,951, above the $47,515 of households that moved out.

At 2.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
71
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.2
Bottom 39% nationally
Year over year
+87%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
80.3%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202434k32k
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
60%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$53,951
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$47,515
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Des Moines County, IA 159 people · 15% of arrivals
  2. Hancock County, IL 142 people · 14% of arrivals
  3. Henry County, IA 51 people · 5.0% of arrivals
  4. Van Buren County, IA 40 people · 3.9% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Des Moines County, IA 148 people · 15% of departures
  2. Hancock County, IL 133 people · 13% of departures
  3. Clark County, MO 51 people · 5.1% of departures
  4. Henry County, IA 46 people · 4.6% of departures
  5. Johnson County, IA 42 people · 4.2% 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. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025487.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+586%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 37.9 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BURLINGTON MUNI AP, 20.7 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals37.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals51°F1991-2020 Normals

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

Physical risk

47 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and heat wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 58% of it.

HailElevated
Heat waveModerate
DroughtElevated
Strong windElevated
Inland floodingElevated
TornadoHigh
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, lightning, ice storm, earthquake, winter weather, wildfire, hurricane, avalanche, tsunami, coastal flooding, volcanic activity.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Lee County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.3 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 13.7 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 8.6 per 100,000 residents in Lee County.

Homicide
3.3
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
8.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
20.1
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.

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 Lee County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read 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.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
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 Quad Cities Intl at 75 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year86.6%Bottom 48%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle75 miBottom 12%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 35%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year10.6%Bottom 47%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Quad Cities IntlMLI75 mi10,002 ft
The Eastern IowaCID86 mi8,600 ft
General Downing - Peoria IntlPIA94 mi10,104 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
51
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
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
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
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.

Cities in Lee County, IA

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.