City · Sac County, Iowa

Sac City, Iowa

Sac City is a city in Sac County, Iowa. It has 1,885 residents. Sac City, Iowa has a quality-of-life score of 71 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,491 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Iowa it ranks #198 of 281 cities and towns. It ranks best on public libraries (high), property crime rate (low) and preventable hospital stays (low). It ranks worst on public EV charging ports (low), broadband subscriptions (low) and mental health providers (low).

71High

Quality-of-life score: #4,491 of 15,651 cities and towns
Iowa: #198 of 281 in IA
Population: 1,885 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 385.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 1969645

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety83#2,615/15,637
Economy43#8,936/15,631
Housing66#5,166/14,977
Health58#6,530/15,609
Healthcare51#7,637/15,650
Environment88#1,817/15,453
Education55#6,985/15,649
Infrastructure23#12,075/15,650
Community94#960/15,651
Leisure & amenities61#6,182/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Sac City, Iowa ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Sac 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 · high8.3 /10k
100/100Iowa 1.8 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesSac County value
Property crime rate · low161 /100k
100/100Iowa 1,172 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2024Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureSac County value
Preventable hospital stays · low1,352 /100k
98/100Iowa 2,368 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSac County value
Social associations · high19.6 /10k
98/100Iowa 14.3 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSac County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low103 min
95/100Iowa 128 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesSac County value
Average commute time · low16.6 min
95/100Iowa 19.8 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013

Weaknesses

Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Iowa 4.0 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergySac County value
Broadband subscriptions · low80.0%
5/100Iowa 88.8%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Mental health providers · low73 /100k
10/100Iowa 226 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSac County value
Dentists · low31 /100k
12/100Iowa 73 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSac County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.504
12/100Iowa 0.444United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Distance to an Amtrak station · high89 mi
12/100Iowa 60 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauSac County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
2,001 (2015-2019) → 1,885 (2020-2024)
−5.8%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.5× (2015-2019) → 2.4× (2020-2024)
+64%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
47.9% (2015-2019) → 60.6% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
28.9% (2015-2019) → 36.3% (2020-2024)
+7.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
10.3% (2015-2019) → 4.3% (2020-2024)
−6 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
75.8% (2015-2019) → 80.0% (2020-2024)
+4.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

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, Sac City, Iowa improved on 0 of 12 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.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined2

Inequality+0.0750.429 → 0.504
Price / income+0.9×1.5× → 2.4×

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Sac City, Iowa between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	16.0 min2015-2019	16.6 min2020-2024	+0.6 min	Within the margin of error	41%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.8%2015-2019	23.9%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Broadband subscriptions	75.8%2015-2019	80.0%2020-2024	+4.2 points	Within the margin of error	27%
Child poverty rate	29.8%2015-2019	29.7%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	46%
Effective property tax rate	1.37%2015-2019	0.96%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	85%
High school diploma or higher	91.0%2015-2019	90.1%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Within the margin of error	23%
Home price to income ratio	1.5×2015-2019	2.4×2020-2024	+0.9×	Declined	25%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4292015-2019	0.5042020-2024	+0.075	Declined	9%
Median household income	$49,7442015-2019	$57,1392020-2024	+15%	Within the margin of error	23%
Poverty rate	17.3%2015-2019	18.2%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Rent as share of income	28.9%2015-2019	36.3%2020-2024	+7.4 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Rent-burdened households	47.9%2015-2019	60.6%2020-2024	+13 points	Within the margin of error	18%

“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 Sac City, Iowa five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sac City, 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, Sac City, Iowa itself moved −14.8 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.

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

1,885 residents (±194)

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

947 households (±107)

Sac City, Iowa
Iowa share

Under $25k29%†274
$25k–50k13%†120
$50k–75k16%

Homes

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

Owners and renters

947 households (±107)

Sac City, Iowa
Iowa share

Own66%621
Rent34%326

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

974 workers (±115)

Sac City, Iowa
Iowa share

Drive alone86%839
Carpool6.8%†66
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 Sac County, the county holding most of Sac City's residents.

Sac County has 321 employer establishments, 331 for every 10,000 residents (1.33× the US rate of 248; 1.28× Iowa's), with 2,245 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,967. The Census Bureau also counts 874 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 321; 874 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 331; US 248 · Iowa 259
Paid employees: 2,245
Average annual pay: $48,967; US $68,342

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

Truck transportation	33	34	6.73×More than typical	153	$45,699	83
Religious organizations	19	19.6	3.53×More than typical	45	$14,933	—
Ambulatory health care services	18	18.6	0.89×About typical	68	$64,618	22
Restaurants and other eating places	16	16.5	0.90×About typical	116	$15,103	5
Specialty trade contractors	15	15.5	1.00×About typical	56	$62,714	81
Banks and credit unions	12	12.4	3.83×More than typical	82	$53,402	—
Full-service restaurants	12	12.4	1.61×More than typical	96	$15,458	—
Building equipment contractors	10	10.3	1.71×More than typical	26	$55,385	10
Gasoline stations	10	10.3	3.18×More than typical	97	$22,433	—
Offices of other health practitioners	10	10.3	1.70×More than typical	21	$33,619	6
Automotive repair and maintenance	8	8.3	1.64×Too few to compare	27	$47,926	16
Construction of buildings	8	8.3	1.09×Too few to compare	11	$47,364	40

Rank places for an industry Open Sac County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 9,696 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 $99.94 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Sac City, Iowa: $0.05 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $99.94; −89% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.05; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

Defense Logistics Agency$99.94100%

Top recipients

AES ASSET ACQUISITION CORPORATION$99.94100%

Spending by fiscal year

2.3KFY2017
3.9KFY2018
29.6KFY2019
70.7KFY2020
0FY2021
733.9FY2022
1.1KFY2023
790.5FY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Waste treatment and disposal · 5622$99.94100%

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 Sac City, Iowa, so they do not add up across cities.

Sac City, Iowa's figures are part of those of Sac County, IA ($2,299 in FY2026), never added to them: 4.3% of that total.

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

See federal money in Sac 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.

Sac City, 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.

Sac County92100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Sac 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/1969645

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends