Panora is a city in Guthrie County, Iowa, part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metro area. It has 1,579 residents. Panora, Iowa has a quality-of-life score of 85 out of 100 (very high), ranking #2,300 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Iowa it ranks #99 of 281 cities and towns. It ranks best on public libraries (high), drug overdose deaths (low) and voter turnout (high). It ranks worst on mental health providers (low), public EV charging ports (low) and gyms and fitness centers (low).
85Very high
Quality-of-life score
#2,300 of 15,651 cities and towns
Iowa
#99 of 281 in IA
Population
1,579 (2020-2024)
Land area
2 mi²
Density
871.9 /mi²
FIPS code
1961320
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.
Safety89#1,767/15,637
Economy42#9,095/15,631
Housing81#2,827/14,977
Health76#3,726/15,609
Healthcare53#7,423/15,650
Environment77#3,520/15,453
Education75#3,959/15,649
Infrastructure64#5,665/15,650
Community94#933/15,651
Leisure & amenities61#6,090/15,651
Strengths · Weaknesses
Indicators where Panora, Iowa ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Guthrie 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 Panora, Iowa five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Panora, 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: Panora is mostly in Guthrie County.
Over about five years, Panora, Iowa improved on 1 of 10 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.
Improved1
Broadband+11 points80.9% → 91.8%
Broadband subscriptions
80.9% → 91.8%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+11 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±7.2 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 47 → 55 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 64% of cities and towns
Declined1
Price / income+0.7×2.1× → 2.7×
Home price to income ratio
2.1× → 2.7×2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+0.7×Beyond the margin of error (±0.5×)
Standing among cities and towns: 82 → 71 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
Less favourable than 62% of cities and towns
All 10 measures
Change of every measure of Panora, Iowa between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
23.9 min2015-2019
23.0 min2020-2024
−1.0 min
Within the margin of error
59%
Bachelor's degree or higher
18.1%2015-2019
23.7%2020-2024
+5.6 points
Within the margin of error
72%
Broadband subscriptions
80.9%2015-2019
91.8%2020-2024
+11 points
Improved
64%
Effective property tax rate
1.79%2015-2019
1.54%2020-2024
−0.3 points
Within the margin of error
68%
High school diploma or higher
90.6%2015-2019
97.0%2020-2024
+6.5 points
Within the margin of error
88%
Home price to income ratio
2.1×2015-2019
2.7×2020-2024
+0.7×
Declined
38%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.3792015-2019
0.4282020-2024
+0.049
Within the margin of error
17%
Median household income
$56,9742015-2019
$66,3392020-2024
+16%
Within the margin of error
26%
Rent as share of income
28.2%2015-2019
43.2%2020-2024
+15 points
Within the margin of error
4%
Rent-burdened households
46.3%2015-2019
60.5%2020-2024
+14 points
Within the margin of error
16%
“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, Panora, Iowa itself moved −8 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
610 households (±101)
Panora, Iowa
Iowa share
Under $25k13%†81
Under $25k
13%±10.0 points
81 households±63 (90% margin of error)
14%in Iowa
15%in United States
−3.1 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$25k–50k21%†128
$25k–50k
21%±7.5 points
128 households±51 (90% margin of error)
19%in Iowa
17%in United States
−6.5 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$50k–75k23%†138
$50k–75k
23%±7.6 points
138 households±52 (90% margin of error)
18%in Iowa
16%in United States
−3.2 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$75k–100k16%†99
$75k–100k
16%±6.3 points
99 households±42 (90% margin of error)
14%in Iowa
13%in United States
+3.4 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$100k–150k7.5%†46
$100k–150k
7.5%±4.1 points
46 households±26 (90% margin of error)
19%in Iowa
18%in United States
−3.8 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$150k–200k11%†69
$150k–200k
11%±5.1 points
69 households±33 (90% margin of error)
8.8%in Iowa
9.6%in United States
+6.9 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$200k or more8.0%†49
$200k or more
8.0%±5.4 points
49 households±34 (90% margin of error)
8.6%in Iowa
13%in United States
+6.4 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
Biggest shift since 2015–2019: $150k–200k (+6.9 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 Guthrie County, the county holding most of Panora's residents.
Guthrie County has 313 employer establishments, 291 for every 10,000 residents (1.17× the US rate of 248; 1.12× Iowa's), with 2,392 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,985. The Census Bureau also counts 1,073 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.
Establishments
313
1,073 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
291
US 248 · Iowa 259
Paid employees
2,392
Average annual pay
$46,985
US $68,342
Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Guthrie 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: 10,738 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.
