City · Taylor County, Iowa

Lenox, Iowa

Lenox is a city in Taylor County, Iowa. It has 1,569 residents. Lenox, Iowa has a quality-of-life score of 77 out of 100 (high), ranking #3,654 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Iowa it ranks #166 of 281 cities and towns. It ranks best on public libraries (high), suicide rate (low) and social associations (high). It ranks worst on arts, entertainment and recreation (low), mental health providers (low) and public EV charging ports (low).

77High

Quality-of-life score: #3,654 of 15,651 cities and towns
Iowa: #166 of 281 in IA
Population: 1,569 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 815.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 1944490

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 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.

Safety90#1,571/15,637
Economy57#6,758/15,631
Housing92#1,247/14,977
Health53#7,309/15,609
Healthcare39#9,569/15,650
Environment90#1,584/15,453
Education74#4,115/15,649
Infrastructure32#10,615/15,650
Community87#2,067/15,651
Leisure & amenities32#10,714/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Public libraries · high6.8 /10k
100/100Iowa 1.8 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesTaylor County value
Suicide rate · low0.0 /100k
100/100Iowa 16.9 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataTaylor County value
Social associations · high23.6 /10k
99/100Iowa 14.3 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTaylor County value
Firearm deaths · low0.0 /100k
99/100Iowa 11.4 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataTaylor County value
Job growth · high6.1%
99/100Iowa -0.1%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataTaylor County value
Property crime rate · low207 /100k
99/100Iowa 1,172 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationTaylor County value

Weaknesses

Arts, entertainment and recreation · low0.0 /10k
1/100Iowa 4.7 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsTaylor County value
Mental health providers · low17 /100k
1/100Iowa 226 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTaylor County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Iowa 4.0 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyTaylor County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.0 /10k
4/100Iowa 1.2 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsTaylor County value
Distance to an emergency room · high15.7 mi
6/100Iowa 5.8 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesTaylor County value
Broadband subscriptions · low82.8%
8/100Iowa 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.

PopulationRising
1,437 (2015-2019) → 1,569 (2020-2024)
+9.2%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
26.1% (2015-2019) → 2.5% (2020-2024)
−24 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Child poverty rateWorsening
3.4% (2015-2019) → 19.2% (2020-2024)
+16 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
19.4% (2015-2019) → 34.9% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
High school diploma or higherImproving
77.2% (2015-2019) → 91.7% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
New homes permittedWorsening
3.4 /1k (2021) → 1.3 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−62%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k

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, Lenox, Iowa improved on 2 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 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

High school++14 points77.2% → 91.7%
Inequality−0.0840.456 → 0.373

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Lenox, Iowa between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	18.0 min2015-2019	15.4 min2020-2024	−2.6 min	Within the margin of error	76%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.7%2015-2019	14.7%2020-2024	+4 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Broadband subscriptions	77.1%2015-2019	82.8%2020-2024	+5.8 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Effective property tax rate	1.58%2015-2019	1.45%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	42%
High school diploma or higher	77.2%2015-2019	91.7%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	98%
Home price to income ratio	2.1×2015-2019	1.8×2020-2024	−0.2×	Within the margin of error	88%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4562015-2019	0.3732020-2024	−0.084	Improved	93%
Median household income	$41,5442015-2019	$61,0002020-2024	+47%	Within the margin of error	82%
Poverty rate	10.9%2015-2019	11.3%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	39%
Rent as share of income	25.2%2015-2019	26.4%2020-2024	+1.2 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Rent-burdened households	19.4%2015-2019	34.9%2020-2024	+15 points	Within the margin of error	14%

“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 Lenox, Iowa five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lenox, 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, Lenox, Iowa itself moved +8.7 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

1,569 residents (±156)

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

618 households (±64)

Lenox, Iowa
Iowa share

Under $25k16%†99
$25k–50k23%143
$50k–75k17%†102

Homes

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

Owners and renters

618 households (±64)

Lenox, Iowa
Iowa share

Own76%471
Rent24%147

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+14.8 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

790 workers (±105)

Lenox, Iowa
Iowa share

Drive alone77%609
Carpool15%†117
Public transit0.3%†2

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 Taylor County, the county holding most of Lenox's residents.

Taylor County has 140 employer establishments, 236 for every 10,000 residents (0.95× the US rate of 248; 0.91× Iowa's), with 1,543 paid employees at an average annual pay of $55,321. The Census Bureau also counts 492 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 140; 492 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 236; US 248 · Iowa 259
Paid employees: 1,543
Average annual pay: $55,321; US $68,342

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

Truck transportation	13	21.9	4.34×More than typical	207	$86,691	33
Specialty trade contractors	12	20.3	1.31×More than typical	24	$44,000	69
Religious organizations	11	18.6	3.35×More than typical	18	$14,833	—
Restaurants and other eating places	9	15.2	0.83×Too few to compare	66	$15,561	3
Other specialty trade contractors	7	11.8	4.71×Too few to compare	12	$48,083	29
Automotive repair and maintenance	6	10.1	2.01×Too few to compare	46	$48,022	20
Full-service restaurants	6	10.1	1.32×Too few to compare	50	$18,520	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	6	10.1	2.31×Too few to compare	17	$42,118	7
Banks and credit unions	4	6.8	2.09×Too few to compare	20	$76,250	—
Building equipment contractors	4	6.8	1.12×Too few to compare	10	$39,400	9
Construction of buildings	4	6.8	0.89×Too few to compare	21	$42,238	17
Machinery manufacturing	4	6.8	10.5×Too few to compare	321	$55,657	—

Rank places for an industry Open Taylor County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 5,925 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Lenox, Iowa: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
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.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

113.6FY2018
-99FY2019

What was bought

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

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

See federal money in Taylor 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.

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

House

Zachary NunnR-IA-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 95%Missed 4.6%

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.

Taylor County83100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Taylor 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/1944490

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends