Spencer, Iowa
Area Profile
11,400 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Spencer, in Clay County.
Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 51 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 292% on the prior year.
Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 16% of median household income and the median home is 3.1 times it.
Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, tornado and hail.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 2.8% is lower than 97% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment fell 0.4% over the past year, to 8,722 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$6,531 | $59,667 | Bottom 38%of 29,573 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,884 | $37,510 | Top 39%of 31,420 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 14.0% | Top 39%of 31,900 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 16.3 min | Bottom 8%of 31,543 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 29.8% | Top 31%of 31,919 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 8,722 | Bottom 2%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -0.3% | Bottom 47%of 3,903 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -0.4% | Top 38%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 8,975 | Bottom 2%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 65.1% | Top 34%of 31,933 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | -0.4% | Bottom 21%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 2.8% | Bottom 3%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Clay County, IA, which contains this city.
Schools
How it’s calculated →80% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 72% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer High School | Spencer Comm School District | 688 | 17.2 | — | — |
| Spencer Middle School | Spencer Comm School District | 514 | 17.7 | 87% | 82% |
| Lincoln Elementary School | Spencer Comm School District | 442 | 15.8 | 70% | 75% |
| Fairview Park Elementary | Spencer Comm School District | 249 | 12.4 | 82% | 47% |
| Johnson Elementary | Spencer Comm School District | 201 | 11.2 | — | — |
50.3% 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 →Median rent of $805 takes 16% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 3.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.10 | Top 45%of 28,473 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 68.1% | Bottom 34%of 31,843 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±167 | 5,693 | Top 10%of 32,330 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$95 | $805 | Bottom 29%of 23,432 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$11,644 | $184,800 | Bottom 49%of 29,342 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 16.2% | Bottom 32%of 23,201 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 8.6% | Bottom 45%of 32,001 | 2024 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 →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 grown 1% since 2020, reaching 11,418 in 2024.
Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.
At 4.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.
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 8°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 26.8 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 26.8" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 8°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 85°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 56°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
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.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and hail.
Overall hazard risk is lower than 82% of measured US cities.
Low or minimal exposure: drought, ice storm, landslide, wildfire, earthquake, lightning.
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.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing 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
- Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Taxes and full cost of living
- No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised 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 neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.
Access
2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 81 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Fld | SUX | 81 mi | 9,002 ft |
| Joe Foss Fld | FSD | 85 mi | 9,000 ft |
| Eppley Airfield | OMA | 133 mi | 9,502 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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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
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.
ZIP codes in Spencer
1 published ZIP profiles| ZIP | Population | Median household income | Area Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51301 | 12,638 | $63,402 | 63 |