Eldora is a city in Hardin County, Iowa. It has 2,617 residents. Eldora, Iowa has a quality-of-life score of 73 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,198 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Iowa it ranks #190 of 281 cities and towns. It ranks best on mammography screening (high), social associations (high) and public libraries (high). It ranks worst on public EV charging ports (low), gyms and fitness centers (low) and job growth (low).
73High
Quality-of-life score
#4,198 of 15,651 cities and towns
Iowa
#190 of 281 in IA
Population
2,617 (2020-2024)
Land area
4 mi²
Density
611.3 /mi²
FIPS code
1924465
Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.
Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.
Safety39#9,558/15,637
Economy48#8,154/15,631
Housing85#2,265/14,977
Health51#7,571/15,609
Healthcare59#6,358/15,650
Environment79#3,227/15,453
Education70#4,733/15,649
Infrastructure34#10,291/15,650
Community93#1,021/15,651
Leisure & amenities78#3,507/15,651
Strengths · Weaknesses
Indicators where Eldora, Iowa ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Hardin 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.
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.
Cities and towns like Eldora, Iowa five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Eldora, 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.
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).
Income
How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.
Homes
Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.
Getting to work
How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.
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.
Federal contracts performed here
Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Eldora is mostly in Hardin County.
Over about five years, Eldora, Iowa improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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.
Improved2
Household income+61%$47,938 → $77,188
Median household income
$47,938 → $77,1882015-2019 → 2020-2024
+61%Beyond the margin of error (±$14,131)
Standing among cities and towns: 34 → 55 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 91% of cities and towns
Broadband+18 points70.7% → 88.9%
Broadband subscriptions
70.7% → 88.9%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+18 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±7 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 17 → 38 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 87% of cities and towns
Declined0
No measure declined by more than its margin of error.
All 13 measures
Change of every measure of Eldora, Iowa between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
17.5 min2015-2019
19.5 min2020-2024
+2.1 min
Within the margin of error
27%
Bachelor's degree or higher
15.6%2015-2019
21.1%2020-2024
+5.5 points
Within the margin of error
71%
Broadband subscriptions
70.7%2015-2019
88.9%2020-2024
+18 points
Improved
87%
Effective property tax rate
2.03%2015-2019
1.69%2020-2024
−0.3 points
Within the margin of error
79%
High school diploma or higher
89.4%2015-2019
84.6%2020-2024
−4.8 points
Within the margin of error
6%
Home price to income ratio
1.7×2015-2019
1.7×2020-2024
+0.0×
Within the margin of error
77%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.4042015-2019
0.4032020-2024
−0.001
Within the margin of error
52%
Median household income
$47,9382015-2019
$77,1882020-2024
+61%
Improved
91%
Poverty rate
10.9%2015-2019
12.0%2020-2024
+1.1 points
Within the margin of error
33%
Public transit commuters
0.0%2015-2019
0.0%2020-2024
0 points
Within the margin of error
60%
Rent as share of income
21.4%2015-2019
25.6%2020-2024
+4.2 points
Within the margin of error
26%
Rent-burdened households
24.5%2015-2019
28.5%2020-2024
+3.9 points
Within the margin of error
41%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
5.8%2015-2019
8.7%2020-2024
+2.9 points
Within the margin of error
19%
“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.
For comparison, Eldora, Iowa itself moved +0 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.
Household income
936 households (±80)
Eldora, Iowa
Iowa share
Under $25k14%†132
Under $25k
14%±4.7 points
132 households±46 (90% margin of error)
14%in Iowa
15%in United States
−13.6 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$25k–50k23%†217
$25k–50k
23%±7.6 points
217 households±73 (90% margin of error)
19%in Iowa
17%in United States
−0.8 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$50k–75k11%†105
$50k–75k
11%±4.6 points
105 households±44 (90% margin of error)
18%in Iowa
16%in United States
−10.5 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$75k–100k20%†183
$75k–100k
20%±7.3 points
183 households±70 (90% margin of error)
14%in Iowa
13%in United States
+6.1 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$100k–150k20%†189
$100k–150k
20%±6.1 points
189 households±59 (90% margin of error)
19%in Iowa
18%in United States
+9.2 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$150k–200k3.8%†36
$150k–200k
3.8%±2.7 points
36 households±25 (90% margin of error)
8.8%in Iowa
9.6%in United States
+2.7 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$200k or more7.9%†74
$200k or more
7.9%±3.8 points
74 households±36 (90% margin of error)
8.6%in Iowa
13%in United States
+6.9 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Under $25k (−13.6 points).
† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.
The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Hardin County, the county holding most of Eldora's residents.
Hardin County has 499 employer establishments, 302 for every 10,000 residents (1.22× the US rate of 248; 1.17× Iowa's), with 4,845 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,729. The Census Bureau also counts 1,246 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.
Establishments
499
1,246 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
302
US 248 · Iowa 259
Paid employees
4,845
Average annual pay
$48,729
US $68,342
Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Hardin County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation
County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)
Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 16,522 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.
In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Eldora, Iowa: $0 per resident (US $1,994).
Obligations
$0
−100% vs FY2025
Per resident
$0
US $1,994
Sole-source
—
US 30%
Single offer
—
US 8.8%
A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.
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 Eldora, Iowa, so they do not add up across cities.
