Most Densely Populated Cities in Iowa: Ranked by People per Square Mile

The densest city in Iowa in our data is Iowa City, IA, with about 2,934 people per square mile, followed by Des Moines, IA (2,429) and Ames, IA (2,422). This list ranks the top 50 places among the 84 Iowa communities with at least 5,000 residents.

What are the top 50 in Iowa?

How dense are the cities in Iowa?

The densest place is about 2 times as dense as the median place in the state, which has about 1,339 people per square mile. At the other end, Clear Lake, IA has about 699. Under our scale, 0 places are an urban core (over 5,000 per square mile), 70 are suburban, and the rest are small towns or rural. Polk County contributes 8 of the top 50.

Which counties do the top 50 belong to?

The 50 places on this list are spread across 34 counties of Iowa. Polk County has 8 (Des Moines, Clive, Ankeny, Urbandale, Altoona, West Des Moines, Johnston, Grimes); Linn County has 4 (Marion, Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, Mount Vernon); Johnson County has 3 (Iowa City, North Liberty, Coralville). Counties with several entries are usually centers of a metropolitan area, where one large city is surrounded by many suburbs that each pass the 5,000-resident threshold.

How does Iowa compare with the rest of the country?

The median Iowa place with a page has about 10,140 residents, compared with about 13,459 nationwide, so the state's typical community is smaller than the national typical place. Iowa City, IA ranks 379th among all US places by estimated population in our data. The state has 1,003 communities in total, of which 84 reach 5,000 residents. See the national ranking of the largest cities for comparison.

Quick answers about Iowa cities

• Which is the densest city in Iowa? Iowa City (2,934 per square mile).
• How many Iowa cities have more than 100,000 people? 6 in our data.
• How many have 25,000 to 100,000? 14.
• What is the typical size? About 10,140 residents for a place with a page.

How is this ranking made?

The data comes from the SimpleMaps US Cities Database, which gives each place an estimated population and a density in people per square kilometer. We convert density to people per square mile and rank the places with at least 5,000 residents. Boundaries matter: a city that includes large parks or farmland scores lower on density than a compact city of the same size, and population estimates can include areas that share a city's ZIP codes. Read why population figures differ and how density is calculated before you quote a number.

Where to go next

Rankings use dataset estimates, not official counts.