City · Clinton County, Iowa

Clinton, Iowa

Clinton is a city in Clinton County, Iowa, part of the Clinton, IA metro area. It has 24,322 residents. Clinton, Iowa has a quality-of-life score of 43 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,915 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Iowa it ranks #277 of 281 cities and towns. It ranks best on home price to income ratio (low), time spent in the emergency room (low) and average commute time (low). It ranks worst on public EV charging ports (low), mental health care shortage (high) and primary care shortage (high).

43Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #8,915 of 15,651 cities and towns
Iowa: #277 of 281 in IA
Population: 24,322 (2020-2024)
Land area: 36 mi²
Density: 682.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 1914430

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety35#10,193/15,637
Economy23#12,099/15,631
Housing65#5,294/14,977
Health36#9,997/15,609
Healthcare43#8,967/15,650
Environment42#8,887/15,453
Education59#6,366/15,649
Infrastructure33#10,445/15,650
Community74#4,118/15,651
Leisure & amenities55#7,109/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Clinton, Iowa ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Clinton County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Home price to income ratio · low2.0×
93/100Iowa 2.8×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Time spent in the emergency room · low112 min
92/100Iowa 128 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesClinton County value
Average commute time · low18.9 min
92/100Iowa 19.8 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Drug overdose deaths · low8.2 /100k
88/100Iowa 9.4 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataClinton County value
Public libraries · high1.5 /10k
87/100Iowa 1.8 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesClinton County value
Social associations · high13.9 /10k
86/100Iowa 14.3 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteClinton County value

Weaknesses

Public EV charging ports · low0.6 /10k
9/100Iowa 4.0 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyClinton County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100Iowa 10.1United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationClinton County value
Primary care shortage · high16.0
14/100Iowa 7.0United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationClinton County value
New business applications · low9.0 /1k
15/100Iowa 10.8 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauClinton County value
Adult smoking · high19.3%
16/100Iowa 16.4%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Broadband subscriptions · low87.0%
18/100Iowa 88.8%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedWorsening
2.0 /1k (2021) → 0.3 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−83%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
74.8% (2015-2019) → 87.0% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$44,094 (2015-2019) → $60,230 (2020-2024)
+37%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
17.5% (2015-2019) → 20.8% (2020-2024)
+3.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Average commute timeWorsening
16.2 min (2015-2019) → 18.9 min (2020-2024)
+17%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Home price to income ratioImproving
2.3× (2015-2019) → 2.0× (2020-2024)
−13%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Clinton, Iowa improved on 5 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 8 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved5

Price / income−0.3×2.3× → 2.0×
Unemployment−2 points5.7% → 3.7%
Broadband+12 points74.8% → 87.0%
Household income+37%$44,094 → $60,230
Bachelor's++3.3 points17.5% → 20.8%

Declined1

Commute+2.7 min16.2 min → 18.9 min

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Clinton, Iowa between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	16.2 min2015-2019	18.9 min2020-2024	+2.7 min	Declined	22%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%2015-2019	20.8%2020-2024	+3.3 points	Improved	54%
Broadband subscriptions	74.8%2015-2019	87.0%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	70%
Child poverty rate	23.3%2015-2019	25.7%2020-2024	+2.4 points	Within the margin of error	29%
Effective property tax rate	1.71%2015-2019	1.32%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	83%
High school diploma or higher	88.5%2015-2019	90.4%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Home price to income ratio	2.3×2015-2019	2.0×2020-2024	−0.3×	Improved	89%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4472015-2019	0.4702020-2024	+0.023	Within the margin of error	32%
Median household income	$44,0942015-2019	$60,2302020-2024	+37%	Improved	68%
Poverty rate	17.3%2015-2019	18.5%2020-2024	+1.2 points	Within the margin of error	33%
Rent as share of income	31.7%2015-2019	31.4%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Rent-burdened households	53.5%2015-2019	53.2%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Unemployment rate	5.7%2015-2019	3.7%2020-2024	−2 points	Improved	81%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	5.8%2015-2019	7.8%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	26%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Clinton, Iowa five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Clinton, Iowa in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Clinton, Iowa itself moved +2.6 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

24,322 residents (±18)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

10,754 households (±355)

Clinton, Iowa
Iowa share

Under $25k21%2,267
$25k–50k22%2,413
$50k–75k19%2,038

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

10,754 households (±355)

Clinton, Iowa
Iowa share

Own69%7,435
Rent31%3,319

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

10,804 workers (±561)

Clinton, Iowa
Iowa share

Drive alone80%8,601
Carpool8.3%893
Public transit0.7%†73

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Clinton, IA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Clinton County, the county holding most of Clinton's residents.

Clinton County has 1,122 employer establishments, 243 for every 10,000 residents (0.98× the US rate of 248; 0.94× Iowa's), with 16,170 paid employees at an average annual pay of $49,049. The Census Bureau also counts 2,708 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,122; 2,708 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 243; US 248 · Iowa 259
Paid employees: 16,170
Average annual pay: $49,049; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Clinton County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	80	17.4	0.83×About typical	571	$51,364	88
Restaurants and other eating places	79	17.1	0.93×About typical	1,089	$17,620	13
Specialty trade contractors	76	16.5	1.06×About typical	556	$64,739	185
Truck transportation	49	10.6	2.10×More than typical	455	$59,424	96
Religious organizations	42	9.1	1.64×More than typical	237	$21,430	—
Offices of other health practitioners	37	8	1.32×More than typical	180	$35,922	43
Automotive repair and maintenance	36	7.8	1.55×More than typical	159	$39,818	50
Construction of buildings	35	7.6	1.00×About typical	215	$42,135	98
Services to buildings and dwellings	35	7.6	1.13×About typical	141	$34,965	173
Limited-service restaurants	34	7.4	0.92×About typical	619	$17,922	4
Building equipment contractors	33	7.2	1.19×About typical	207	$61,937	27
Full-service restaurants	33	7.2	0.93×About typical	390	$18,323	—

Rank places for an industry Open Clinton County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 46,109 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $1.2M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Clinton, Iowa: $49.64 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $1.2M; +4.4% vs FY2025
Per resident: $49.64; US $1,994
Sole-source: 55%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$1.2M99.9%
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service$1,3550.1%

Top recipients

NAPHCARE LLC$1.2M99.9%
AIR CONTROL, INC.$1,3550.1%

Spending by fiscal year

29.5KFY2017
3.4MFY2018
926KFY2019
912.8KFY2020
304.2KFY2021
1.2MFY2022
455KFY2023
361.2KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

General medical and surgical hospitals · 6221$1.2M99.9%
Building equipment contractors · 2382$1,3550.1%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Clinton, Iowa, so they do not add up across cities.

Clinton, Iowa's figures are part of those of Clinton County, IA ($3.9M in FY2026), never added to them: 31% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Clinton is mostly in Clinton County.

See federal money in Clinton County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Clinton, Iowa is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Mariannette Miller-MeeksR-IA-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 96%Missed 3.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Clinton County69100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Clinton, IA61

Other cities and towns in Clinton County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1914430

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends