City · Emmet County, Iowa

Estherville, Iowa

Estherville is a city in Emmet County, Iowa. It has 5,839 residents. Estherville, Iowa has a quality-of-life score of 63 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,746 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Iowa it ranks #234 of 281 cities and towns. It ranks best on property crime rate (low), social associations (high) and public libraries (high). It ranks worst on distance to an Amtrak station (high), adult obesity (high) and hospital quality rating (low).

63High

Quality-of-life score: #5,746 of 15,651 cities and towns
Iowa: #234 of 281 in IA
Population: 5,839 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 1,083.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 1925860

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety87#2,105/15,637
Economy38#9,651/15,631
Housing81#2,838/14,977
Health45#8,654/15,609
Healthcare45#8,549/15,650
Environment93#1,134/15,453
Education29#11,110/15,649
Infrastructure18#12,830/15,650
Community78#3,477/15,651
Leisure & amenities66#5,288/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Estherville, Iowa ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Emmet 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

Property crime rate · low231 /100k
98/100Iowa 1,172 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2024Federal Bureau of InvestigationEmmet County value
Social associations · high18.4 /10k
97/100Iowa 14.3 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEmmet County value
Public libraries · high3.3 /10k
97/100Iowa 1.8 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesEmmet County value
Grocery stores · high3.3 /10k
96/100Iowa 1.9 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsEmmet County value
Mammography screening · high57.0%
96/100Iowa 57.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEmmet County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.9×
94/100Iowa 2.8×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077

Weaknesses

Distance to an Amtrak station · high135 mi
6/100Iowa 60 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauEmmet County value
Adult obesity · high44.4%
6/100Iowa 39.7%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Iowa 3.2United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesEmmet County value
Distance to an airport · high100 mi
10/100Iowa 44 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauEmmet County value
Average weekly wage · low$959
12/100Iowa $1,221United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsEmmet County value
New business applications · low8.7 /1k
12/100Iowa 10.8 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauEmmet County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedWorsening
11.0 /1k (2021) → 0.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−100%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Bachelor's degree or higherWorsening
22.5% (2015-2019) → 13.3% (2020-2024)
−9.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Average commute timeWorsening
15.1 min (2015-2019) → 21.5 min (2020-2024)
+43%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
80.1% (2015-2019) → 85.7% (2020-2024)
+5.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
21.6% (2015-2019) → 16.5% (2020-2024)
−5.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Unemployment rateImproving
5.0% (2015-2019) → 1.1% (2020-2024)
−3.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

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, Estherville, Iowa improved on 1 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 10 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.

Improved1

Household income+16%$46,493 → $54,124

Declined2

Bachelor's+−9.1 points22.5% → 13.3%
Commute+6.4 min15.1 min → 21.5 min

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Estherville, Iowa between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	15.1 min2015-2019	21.5 min2020-2024	+6.4 min	Declined	6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.5%2015-2019	13.3%2020-2024	−9.1 points	Declined	2%
Broadband subscriptions	80.1%2015-2019	85.7%2020-2024	+5.6 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Child poverty rate	21.6%2015-2019	16.5%2020-2024	−5.2 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Effective property tax rate	1.65%2015-2019	1.45%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	58%
High school diploma or higher	87.8%2015-2019	86.6%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Home price to income ratio	1.8×2015-2019	1.9×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	76%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4372015-2019	0.3842020-2024	−0.052	Within the margin of error	85%
Median household income	$46,4932015-2019	$54,1242020-2024	+16%	Improved	26%
Poverty rate	15.1%2015-2019	12.6%2020-2024	−2.4 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Rent as share of income	27.7%2015-2019	26.5%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	64%
Rent-burdened households	43.8%2015-2019	42.3%2020-2024	−1.4 points	Within the margin of error	61%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.9%2015-2019	8.5%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	51%

“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 Estherville, Iowa five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Estherville, 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, Estherville, Iowa itself moved −5 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

5,839 residents (±17)

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

2,547 households (±144)

Estherville, Iowa
Iowa share

Under $25k21%545
$25k–50k24%606
$50k–75k19%481

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,547 households (±144)

Estherville, Iowa
Iowa share

Own74%1,878
Rent26%669

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

3,079 workers (±197)

Estherville, Iowa
Iowa share

Drive alone78%2,406
Carpool11%†347
Public transit0.0%0

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 Emmet County, the county holding most of Estherville's residents.

Emmet County has 268 employer establishments, 288 for every 10,000 residents (1.16× the US rate of 248; 1.11× Iowa's), with 2,726 paid employees at an average annual pay of $45,133. The Census Bureau also counts 678 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 268; 678 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 288; US 248 · Iowa 259
Paid employees: 2,726
Average annual pay: $45,133; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	25	26.9	1.74×More than typical	94	$55,074	54
Truck transportation	16	17.2	3.40×More than typical	60	$36,617	51
Religious organizations	14	15.1	2.72×More than typical	52	$12,615	—
Building equipment contractors	13	14	2.32×More than typical	49	$57,429	6
Ambulatory health care services	12	12.9	0.62×Fewer than typical	126	$57,690	19
Restaurants and other eating places	11	11.8	0.64×Fewer than typical	157	$15,611	—
Construction of buildings	9	9.7	1.28×Too few to compare	38	$74,632	35
Insurance agencies and brokerages	9	9.7	2.20×Too few to compare	22	$52,364	11
Other specialty trade contractors	9	9.7	3.86×Too few to compare	36	$55,278	20
Banks and credit unions	8	8.6	2.66×Too few to compare	82	$57,720	—
Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors	8	8.6	2.61×Too few to compare	40	$59,300	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	7	7.5	1.50×Too few to compare	30	$37,800	11

Rank places for an industry Open Emmet County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 9,294 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 -$9,537 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Estherville, Iowa: -$1.63 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: -$9,537; −109% vs FY2025
Per resident: -$1.63; 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.

Top buying agencies

Agricultural Marketing Service$38.7K0.0%

Top recipients

SONSTEGARD FOODS CO$38.7K0.0%
DEWBERRY ENGINEERS INC.-$48.3K0.0%

Spending by fiscal year

71.2KFY2017
162.2KFY2018
130.2KFY2019
223.1KFY2020
25KFY2021
298.1KFY2022
49KFY2023
141.3KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Other food manufacturing · 3119$38.7K0.0%

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 Estherville, Iowa, so they do not add up across cities.

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

See federal money in Emmet 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.

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

House

Randy FeenstraR-IA-4 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 1.6%

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.

Emmet County81100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Emmet 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/1925860

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends