51105Sioux City, Iowa

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 51105.

58out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 44% of 5,279 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity3,268th of 6,188 ZIP areas measured53
Schools3,557th of 4,422 ZIP areas measured27
Growth4,083rd of 5,428 ZIP areas measured35
Housing affordabilityTop 19% of 6,580 ZIP areas measured96
Climate6,305th of 6,789 ZIP areas measured56
Physical resilienceTop 36% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured69
AccessTop 32% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured97
Economic stability4,479th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured50
The quick read

Residential permitting has slowed: 109 units authorized over the past twelve months, 35% below the prior year.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published ZIP profiles: rent takes 20% of median household income and the median home is 1.9 times it.

Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Fld is 7 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

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
10,415
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$51,786
Bottom 17% nationally
Density
1,750/sq mi
6 sq mi of land
Median age
29.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Sioux City
Iowa
Metro area
Sioux City, IA-NE-SD
Nearest major airport
SUX
7 mi · Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Fld
Median home value
$96,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.4% is lower than 89% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 0.3% over the past year, to 44,580 employed residents.

Median household income of $51,786 is below 83% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,804$51,786Bottom 17%of 31,1972024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,415$24,008Bottom 11%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate21.6%Top 16%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.8 minBottom 10%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher7.8%Bottom 9%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment44,580Bottom 44%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.5%Top 43%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.3%Top 33%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force46,142Bottom 44%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation72.5%Top 9%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$56,240Bottom 8%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,030Bottom 20%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 30%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.4%Bottom 11%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202452k41k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $51,786 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.
Largest occupations — Sioux City, IA-NE-SD
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers2,820$51,540
Retail Salespersons2,220$30,150
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,060$29,090
Food Processing Workers, All Other1,710$46,350
Cashiers1,700$29,470
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers1,700$47,580

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Sioux City, IA, the city containing this ZIP code.

45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 43% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.1 students for every full-time teacher across 3 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
3
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
45.0%
Bottom 14% in Iowa
Reading proficiency
43.1%
Bottom 9% in Iowa
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Irving Elementary SchoolSioux City Comm School District60511.642%36%
Unity Elementary SchoolSioux City Comm School District48312.749%52%
Irving PreschoolSioux City Comm School District84

81.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Iowa’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 12% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 88.2, against 100 for the nation. Housing drives most of that difference.

A new two-bedroom lease runs about $1,154, some 34% above the $859 tenants already here pay — the market has moved faster than sitting tenancies have.

Median rent of $859 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home at $96,200 costs 1.9 times the median household income of $51,786, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
88.2

Prices here run about 12% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
19.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,154
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$859
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$96,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index88.2Bottom 4%of 6,0712023
Home price to income1.86Bottom 13%of 30,0812024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate48.2%Bottom 8%of 32,7502024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3034,053Top 31%of 33,4602024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroom$925Bottom 16%of 6,478FY2026
Market rent, three bedroom$1,386Bottom 12%of 6,478FY2026
Market rent, two bedroom$1,154Bottom 18%of 6,478FY2026
Median gross rent ±$56$859Bottom 32%of 26,5332024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$17,190$96,200Bottom 9%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.9%Top 35%of 26,1762024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate11.3%Top 49%of 32,8512024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
35/ 100
Ranks 4,083 of 5,428 published ZIP profiles

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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 109 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 11% are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
109
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.3
Bottom 30% nationally
Year over year
−35%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
11.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Sioux City, IA, the city containing this ZIP code.

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 10°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 29.3 inches, including 36.0 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SIOUX CITY GATEWAY AP, 8.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index58.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation29.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall36.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low10°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index43.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing54°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modeled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — a little over half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and about a fifth of all US counties do, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

69 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 36% of it.

TornadoModerate
HailModerate
DroughtModerate
WildfireModerate
Cold waveModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Strong windElevated
Heat waveElevated
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, landslide, earthquake.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Woodbury County records 2.7 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 8.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.2 per 100,000 residents in Woodbury County.

Homicide
2.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
8.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Woodbury County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city center and a quiet suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 51105 rather than 51105 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Some things people look for are not on this page, and each is absent for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented 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. Any cities listed on this page 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.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighborhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Fld at 7 miles.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day FldSUX7 mi9,002 ft
Joe Foss FldFSD77 mi9,000 ft
Eppley AirfieldOMA87 mi9,502 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
58
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April 2025 to March 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026Annually, each October for the coming fiscal year
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 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 browse every source.

51105 vs Sioux City

How this ZIP area compares with Sioux City as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

51105
Sioux City
Median household income: Sioux City is the more favorable of the two.
Median household income
$51,786
vs
$68,906
Per capita income: Sioux City is the more favorable of the two.
Per capita income
$24,008
vs
$33,795
Population density
1,750/sq mi
vs
1,456/sq mi
Median home value
$96,200
vs
$173,600
Median gross rent: 51105 is the more favorable of the two.
Median gross rent
$859
vs
$976
Homeownership rate
48.2%
vs
65.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher: Sioux City is the more favorable of the two.
Bachelor's degree or higher
7.8%
vs
22.9%
Poverty rate: Sioux City is the more favorable of the two.
Poverty rate
21.6%
vs
15.3%
Median age
29.6
vs
34.9

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.