Metro area · Iowa

Sioux City, IA-NE-SD metro area

Sioux City, IA-NE-SD is a metropolitan area of 3 counties in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, home to 145,738 residents. Sioux City, IA-NE-SD metro area has a quality-of-life score of 81 out of 100 (very high), ranking #181 of 925 US metro and micro areas. Among metro and micro areas based in Iowa it ranks #15 of 23. It ranks best on cost of buying a home today (low), injury deaths (low) and average commute time (low). It ranks worst on property crime rate (high), effective property tax rate (high) and distance to an Amtrak station (high).

81Very high
Quality-of-life score
#181 of 925 metro and micro areas
Iowa
#15 of 23 in IA
Population
145,738 (2025)
Land area
1,598 mi²
Density
91.2 /mi²
CBSA code
43580

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 66 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map
Location of Sioux City, IA-NE-SD metro area

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US metro and micro areas.

  • Safety52#443/924
  • Economy81#175/925
  • Housing86#131/925
  • Health66#311/925
  • Healthcare76#218/923
  • Environment65#323/917
  • Education41#549/925
  • Infrastructure61#363/925
  • Community84#145/925
  • Leisure & amenities80#188/925

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Sioux City, IA-NE-SD metro area ranks highest and lowest among US metro and micro areas (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

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.

Metro and micro areas like Sioux City, IA-NE-SD metro area five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sioux City, IA-NE-SD metro area 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.

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.

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

Counties in Sioux City, IA-NE-SD

Whole counties, as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates the area. Federal spending below is the exact sum of these counties.

  1. Woodbury CountyCentral county76106,649
  2. Dakota CountyCentral county6821,687
  3. Union CountyCentral county9917,402

States

The share of the area's residents living in each state.

Principal cities

The cities the area is named for.

  1. Sioux CityPrincipal city86,101

Largest cities and towns

By population, for places with most of their residents in the area.

  1. Sioux City86,101
  2. South Sioux City13,907
  3. Sergeant Bluff5,171
  4. Dakota Dunes3,936
  5. North Sioux City3,045
  6. Dakota City2,675
  7. Elk Point2,537
  8. Beresford2,360
  9. Moville1,670
  10. Sloan1,018
  11. Alcester989
  12. Emerson885
  13. Lawton790
  14. Correctionville761
  15. Jefferson554
  16. Anthon514
  17. Homer446
  18. Salix402
  19. Hornick340
  20. Bronson312
  21. Pierson302
  22. Danbury283
  23. Jackson273
  24. Cushing243

Other metro and micro areas in Iowa

Areas based in Iowa, best score first.

Neighboring metro and micro areas

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar metro and micro areas

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.

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