Rock Rapids, IA population, income and ZIP codes

Rock Rapids city is a small town in Iowa, with 2,653 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #138 of 1,026 ranked by population — larger than 86% of them. The median age here is 42.1 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 Rock Rapids city earn a median of $61,679 a year, 21.5% below the national figure of $78,538 and 9% below 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 5.9% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Rock Rapids city is valued at $207,700, 31.5% below the national figure and 33% above the $156,300 peer median, while median gross rent runs $763 a month, 45.7% below the national figure, or roughly $9,156 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 14.8% 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 3.4×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 75.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. 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.