City · Johnson County, Iowa

Tiffin, Iowa

Tiffin is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, part of the Iowa City, IA metro area. It has 5,737 residents. Tiffin, Iowa has a quality-of-life score of 97 out of 100 (very high), ranking #411 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Iowa it ranks #12 of 281 cities and towns. It ranks best on dentists (high), primary care physicians (high) and flu vaccinations (high). It ranks worst on dental care shortage (high), primary care shortage (high) and effective property tax rate (high).

97Very high

Quality-of-life score: #411 of 15,651 cities and towns
Iowa: #12 of 281 in IA
Population: 5,737 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 1,327.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 1978060

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 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.

Safety69#4,816/15,637
Economy90#1,589/15,631
Housing92#1,127/14,977
Health95#711/15,609
Healthcare95#853/15,650
Environment33#10,334/15,453
Education92#1,282/15,649
Infrastructure89#1,767/15,650
Community88#1,914/15,651
Leisure & amenities89#1,684/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Dentists · high245 /100k
100/100Iowa 73 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJohnson County value
Primary care physicians · high189 /100k
100/100Iowa 74 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJohnson County value
Flu vaccinations · high64.0%
100/100Iowa 51.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJohnson County value
Mammography screening · high62.0%
99/100Iowa 57.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJohnson County value
New homes permitted · high34.2 /1k
98/100Iowa 4.1 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Traffic deaths · low4.5 /100k
97/100Iowa 11.0 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataJohnson County value

Weaknesses

Dental care shortage · high17.5
8/100Iowa 5.3United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationJohnson County value
Primary care shortage · high16.0
14/100Iowa 7.0United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationJohnson County value
Effective property tax rate · high1.47%
23/100Iowa 1.33%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Public transit commuters · low0.0%
27/100Iowa 0.7%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301
Distance to an Amtrak station · high49 mi
27/100Iowa 60 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauJohnson County value
New business applications · low10.3 /1k
27/100Iowa 10.8 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauJohnson County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
3,351 (2015-2019) → 5,737 (2020-2024)
+71%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
34.6% (2015-2019) → 63.6% (2020-2024)
+29 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
34.4% (2015-2019) → 22.6% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Income inequality (Gini index)Worsening
0.315 (2015-2019) → 0.487 (2020-2024)
+55%5 yearsCensus table B19083US 0.482 → 0.483
New homes permittedWorsening
60.5 /1k (2021) → 34.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−43%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
High school diploma or higherImproving
93.2% (2015-2019) → 100.0% (2020-2024)
+6.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

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, Tiffin, Iowa improved on 1 of 9 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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

Bachelor's++29 points34.6% → 63.6%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 9 measures

Change of every measure of Tiffin, Iowa between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.5 min2015-2019	22.1 min2020-2024	+2.6 min	Within the margin of error	23%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.6%2015-2019	63.6%2020-2024	+29 points	Improved	100%
Broadband subscriptions	92.2%2015-2019	95.4%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Effective property tax rate	1.52%2015-2019	1.47%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	24%
High school diploma or higher	93.2%2015-2019	100.0%2020-2024	+6.8 points	Within the margin of error	89%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	+0.4×	Within the margin of error	55%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3152015-2019	0.4872020-2024	+0.173	Within the margin of error	1%
Median household income	$78,7132015-2019	$100,9522020-2024	+28%	Within the margin of error	51%
Rent as share of income	27.0%2015-2019	20.9%2020-2024	−6.1 points	Within the margin of error	86%

“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 Tiffin, Iowa five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Tiffin, 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, Tiffin, Iowa itself moved −2.9 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

5,737 residents (±18)

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

2,406 households (±217)

Tiffin, Iowa
Iowa share

Under $25k11%†257
$25k–50k3.6%†86
$50k–75k17%

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,406 households (±217)

Tiffin, Iowa
Iowa share

Own80%1,929
Rent20%†477

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+12.6 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

3,175 workers (±291)

Tiffin, Iowa
Iowa share

Drive alone78%2,491
Carpool2.1%†67
Public transit0.0%0

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.

Pay in the Iowa City, IA

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 Johnson County, the county holding most of Tiffin's residents.

Johnson County has 3,490 employer establishments, 221 for every 10,000 residents (0.89× the US rate of 248; 0.85× Iowa's), with 68,965 paid employees at an average annual pay of $52,592. The Census Bureau also counts 12,146 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 3,490; 12,146 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 221; US 248 · Iowa 259
Paid employees: 68,965
Average annual pay: $52,592; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	335	21.2	1.16×About typical	6,678	$20,606	52
Ambulatory health care services	287	18.2	0.87×About typical	2,427	$67,167	635
Specialty trade contractors	249	15.8	1.02×About typical	1,561	$66,261	571
Lessors of real estate	163	10.3	0.84×About typical	652	$51,870	1,630
Full-service restaurants	161	10.2	1.33×More than typical	3,550	$22,715	28
Offices of other health practitioners	123	7.8	1.28×More than typical	740	$47,696	310
Limited-service restaurants	120	7.6	0.95×About typical	2,393	$18,429	18
Construction of buildings	111	7	0.93×About typical	642	$66,871	314
Services to buildings and dwellings	103	6.5	0.97×About typical	835	$39,228	507
Building equipment contractors	84	5.3	0.88×About typical	852	$68,629	88
Religious organizations	78	4.9	0.89×About typical	820	$25,460	—
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	77	4.9	1.55×More than typical	474	$66,310	81

Rank places for an industry Open Johnson County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 157,729 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

No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.

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

See federal money in Johnson 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.

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

House

Mariannette Miller-MeeksR-IA-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 96%Missed 3.9%

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.

Johnson County86100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Iowa City, IA93

Other cities and towns in Johnson 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/1978060

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends