Malvern is a city in Mills County, Iowa, part of the Omaha, NE-IA metro area. It has 1,323 residents. Malvern, Iowa has a quality-of-life score of 90 out of 100 (very high), ranking #1,581 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Iowa it ranks #75 of 281 cities and towns. It ranks best on reading scores (high), child care cost burden (low) and drought exposure (low). It ranks worst on job growth (low), distance to an emergency room (high) and mental health providers (low).
90Very high
Quality-of-life score
#1,581 of 15,651 cities and towns
Iowa
#75 of 281 in IA
Population
1,323 (2020-2024)
Land area
2 mi²
Density
830.1 /mi²
FIPS code
1948720
Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.
Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.
Safety86#2,134/15,637
Economy67#5,108/15,631
Housing94#937/14,977
Health48#8,118/15,609
Healthcare71#4,560/15,650
Environment77#3,504/15,453
Education88#1,935/15,649
Infrastructure79#3,219/15,650
Community85#2,360/15,651
Leisure & amenities48#8,126/15,651
Strengths · Weaknesses
Indicators where Malvern, Iowa ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Mills 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 Malvern, Iowa five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Malvern, 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.
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.
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: Malvern is mostly in Mills County.
Over about five years, Malvern, Iowa improved on 2 of 11 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.
Improved2
Household income+58%$53,250 → $84,223
Median household income
$53,250 → $84,2232015-2019 → 2020-2024
+58%Beyond the margin of error (±$13,044)
Standing among cities and towns: 45 → 63 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 90% of cities and towns
Broadband+13 points81.6% → 94.3%
Broadband subscriptions
81.6% → 94.3%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+13 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±8.2 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 50 → 71 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 72% of cities and towns
Declined1
Inequality+0.1520.366 → 0.518
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.366 → 0.5182015-2019 → 2020-2024
+0.152Beyond the margin of error (±0.098)
Standing among cities and towns: 84 → 7 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
Less favourable than 99% of cities and towns
All 11 measures
Change of every measure of Malvern, Iowa between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
26.5 min2015-2019
30.7 min2020-2024
+4.2 min
Within the margin of error
13%
Bachelor's degree or higher
22.9%2015-2019
25.5%2020-2024
+2.6 points
Within the margin of error
48%
Broadband subscriptions
81.6%2015-2019
94.3%2020-2024
+13 points
Improved
72%
Effective property tax rate
1.52%2015-2019
1.35%2020-2024
−0.2 points
Within the margin of error
52%
High school diploma or higher
87.5%2015-2019
93.0%2020-2024
+5.5 points
Within the margin of error
84%
Home price to income ratio
2.1×2015-2019
2.1×2020-2024
−0.0×
Within the margin of error
79%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.3662015-2019
0.5182020-2024
+0.152
Declined
1%
Median household income
$53,2502015-2019
$84,2232020-2024
+58%
Improved
90%
Poverty rate
9.7%2015-2019
6.5%2020-2024
−3.1 points
Within the margin of error
70%
Rent as share of income
23.7%2015-2019
25.5%2020-2024
+1.8 points
Within the margin of error
41%
Rent-burdened households
21.1%2015-2019
43.7%2020-2024
+23 points
Within the margin of error
7%
“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, Malvern, Iowa itself moved −7.5 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.
Household income
455 households (±75)
Malvern, Iowa
Iowa share
Under $25k11%†48
Under $25k
11%±5.6 points
48 households±27 (90% margin of error)
14%in Iowa
15%in United States
−5.1 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$25k–50k18%†80
$25k–50k
18%±6.7 points
80 households±33 (90% margin of error)
19%in Iowa
17%in United States
−11.4 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$50k–75k15%†69
$50k–75k
15%±6.2 points
69 households±30 (90% margin of error)
18%in Iowa
16%in United States
−2.5 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$75k–100k22%†98
$75k–100k
22%±11.6 points
98 households±55 (90% margin of error)
14%in Iowa
13%in United States
+6.4 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$100k–150k15%†70
$100k–150k
15%±5.8 points
70 households±29 (90% margin of error)
19%in Iowa
18%in United States
−3.3 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$150k–200k4.6%†21
$150k–200k
4.6%±2.8 points
21 households±13 (90% margin of error)
8.8%in Iowa
9.6%in United States
+3.1 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$200k or more15%†69
$200k or more
15%±8.0 points
69 households±38 (90% margin of error)
8.6%in Iowa
13%in United States
+12.7 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
Biggest shift since 2015–2019: $200k or more (+12.7 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 Mills County, the county holding most of Malvern's residents.
Mills County has 331 employer establishments, 226 for every 10,000 residents (0.91× the US rate of 248; 0.87× Iowa's), with 2,291 paid employees at an average annual pay of $50,725. The Census Bureau also counts 1,000 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.
Establishments
331
1,000 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
226
US 248 · Iowa 259
Paid employees
2,291
Average annual pay
$50,725
US $68,342
Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Mills 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: 14,619 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.
No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.
