Central City, IA population, income and ZIP codes

Central City city is a small town in Iowa, with 1,266 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #240 of 1,026 ranked by population — larger than 76% of them. The median age here is 37.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger 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 Central City city earn a median of $81,607 a year, 3.9% above the national figure of $78,538 and 20% above the $67,791 median for the 290 Iowa cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 4.1% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Central City city is valued at $166,400, 45.2% below the national figure and 6% above the $156,300 peer median, while median gross rent runs $715 a month, 49.1% below the national figure, or roughly $8,580 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 10.5% 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 2×, 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. 79% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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.