
Iowa · Census place 05050
Beacon, IA population, income and ZIP codes
Quick answer
The population of the city of Beacon, Iowa (Beacon, IA — Census place “Beacon city”) is 497 residents, ranking #470 of 1026 places in Iowa. Median household income is $56,000, the median home is worth $76,200 and median gross rent runs $729 a month. Looking for the Beacon Iowa ZIP code list? 1 ZIP codes serve Beacon, IA: 52534.
- Population
- 497Beacon city residents
- Median household income
- $56,000Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
- Median home value
- $76,200Owner-occupied units
- Median gross rent
- $729Rent plus utilities, monthly
- Median age
- 40.4 yrsAll residents
- Homeownership rate
- 86.2%Owner-occupied households
Beacon ZIP codes (Iowa)
Census ZCTAs whose delivery area overlaps Beacon.
The Beacon IA ZIP code list below covers 1 ZIP code. Open any one for its population, income, housing and rent profile.
What the numbers mean in Beacon city
Housing cost measured against local earnings.
A household earning the Beacon city median would spend about 15.6% of gross income on the median rent. The 30% mark is the federal threshold for cost burden, so anything above it signals a stretched rental market. The median home costs 1.4× the median household income; nationally that ratio sits near 4.5×. Poverty affects 12.5% of residents and 86.2% of households own their home.
Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates · rates as published for 2019-2023 ACS 5-year
Beacon city, IA in context
How this area compares with national benchmarks.
Beacon city is a very small community in Iowa, with 497 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #470 of 1,026 ranked by population — larger than 54% of them. The median age here is 40.4 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.
Households in Beacon city earn a median of $56,000 a year, 28.7% below the national figure of $78,538 and 17% below the $67,791 median for the 290 Iowa cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 12.5% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.
The typical owner-occupied home in Beacon city is valued at $76,200, 74.9% below the national figure and 51% below the $156,300 peer median, while median gross rent runs $729 a month, 48.2% below the national figure, or roughly $8,748 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 15.6% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 1.4×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 86.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.
With 497 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Beacon city against its county rather than against national figures.
Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.
Compare with nearby places
Places of similar size in Iowa.
- Buffalo Center city 1,000
- Woodward city 1,002
- Villisca city 1,004
- Newhall city 1,012
- Janesville city 1,012
- Aplington city 1,012
- Keosauqua city 1,014
- Griswold city 1,020
Keep going
More Iowa coverage.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this area.
- What is the population of Beacon city?
- Beacon city has 497 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #470 of 1,026 in Iowa.
- What is the median household income in Beacon city?
- Median household income in Beacon city is $56,000 a year, 28.7% below the national figure of $78,538.
- How much does it cost to rent or buy in Beacon city?
- Median gross rent is $729 a month and the median home value is $76,200, so rent absorbs about 15.6% of median household income.
- Is Beacon city affordable compared with the rest of the US?
- Homes cost about 1.4× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Beacon city is more affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 15.6% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.
- How current is this Beacon city data?
- All figures come from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year five-year estimates. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.