Spencer, Iowa

77% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 79% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher across 5 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

50.3% 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.

Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 11,418 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 54 units authorized in 2025, against 2 the year before.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Clay County, which contains Spencer, in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $53,684, below the $57,812 of households that moved out.

At 4.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

People moving in and out

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 Clay County, IA. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and hail, with inland flooding alone responsible for 64% of it.

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.

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

Spencer's police department reported 96 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, lower than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 874.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 8.6 per 100,000 residents in Clay County.

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 Spencer’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 Spencer (Clay County) rather than Spencer itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Fld at 81 miles.

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.