Iowa: RPP components
BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.
Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.
LivingCostFacts / state
Iowa cost of living
Iowa has an all-items price parity of 87.8 on the U.S. = 100 scale. Compare the statewide picture with county rents and metro price levels.
BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10
87.8
All-items price level
BEA 2024; U.S. = 100
$75,059
Median household income
ACS 2020–2024
$208,000
Median home value
Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024
$1,113
Typical 2BR benchmark
Population-weighted county FMR, FY2027
Read the local picture
Regional Price Parities (RPPs) compare prices across places in the same year. An index of 110 means prices are 10% above the U.S. level; 90 means 10% below. RPP measures relative price levels, while CPI measures price change over time.
Put the benchmark in context
Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.
Monthly rent by bedroom
HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.
Income after benchmark rent is $61,706 a year: ACS median household income minus 12 months of the population-weighted 2BR FMR. This is a comparison between separate datasets and periods, before taxes and all other expenses; it is not disposable income.
The data in view
Price levels relative to the U.S.
BEA RPP, U.S. = 100 each year. This is not an inflation index.
View chart data
| Period or category | Value |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 87.4 |
| 2009 | 89.8 |
| 2010 | 91.1 |
| 2011 | 89.8 |
| 2012 | 90.8 |
| 2013 | 90.9 |
| 2014 | 91.0 |
| 2015 | 89.5 |
| 2016 | 89.4 |
| 2017 | 89.2 |
| 2018 | 91.8 |
| 2019 | 91.8 |
| 2020 | 90.6 |
| 2021 | 89.8 |
| 2022 | 88.4 |
| 2023 | 88.8 |
| 2024 | 87.8 |
Price levels by category
Each category has its own U.S. benchmark of 100. Components are indexes, not spending shares.
| Category | 2024 RPP |
|---|---|
| All items | 87.8 |
| Goods | 93.7 |
| Housing rents | 65.3 |
| Utilities | 83.3 |
| Other services | 92.9 |
Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom
HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.
| Home size | FY2027 monthly gross rent |
|---|---|
| Studio | $846 |
| 1 bedroom | $902 |
| 2 bedrooms | $1,113 |
| 3 bedrooms | $1,475 |
| 4 bedrooms | $1,649 |
County cost comparison
Income: ACS 2020–2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. Rent / income = 12 × 2BR FMR ÷ median household income; it does not measure actual renter burden.
| County or equivalent | 2BR rent / month | Median household income | Rent / income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adair County | $954 | $68,092 | 16.8% |
| Adams County | $943 | $71,875 | 15.7% |
| Allamakee County | $927 | $70,694 | 15.7% |
| Appanoose County | $927 | $54,934 | 20.2% |
| Audubon County | $927 | $58,229 | 19.1% |
| Benton County | $982 | $86,962 | 13.6% |
| Black Hawk County | $1,096 | $66,417 | 19.8% |
| Boone County | $967 | $83,531 | 13.9% |
| Bremer County | $1,023 | $86,784 | 14.1% |
| Buchanan County | $937 | $78,236 | 14.4% |
| Buena Vista County | $1,031 | $71,719 | 17.3% |
| Butler County | $927 | $73,715 | 15.1% |
| Calhoun County | $927 | $64,964 | 17.1% |
| Carroll County | $927 | $72,930 | 15.3% |
| Cass County | $927 | $63,013 | 17.7% |
| Cedar County | $969 | $80,602 | 14.4% |
| Cerro Gordo County | $927 | $68,189 | 16.3% |
| Cherokee County | $927 | $71,269 | 15.6% |
| Chickasaw County | $927 | $75,675 | 14.7% |
| Clarke County | $946 | $71,641 | 15.8% |
| Clay County | $927 | $65,428 | 17.0% |
| Clayton County | $927 | $67,242 | 16.5% |
| Clinton County | $927 | $66,981 | 16.6% |
| Crawford County | $927 | $67,027 | 16.6% |
| Dallas County | $1,360 | $102,379 | 15.9% |
| Davis County | $1,066 | $77,194 | 16.6% |
| Decatur County | $927 | $59,044 | 18.8% |
| Delaware County | $927 | $74,989 | 14.8% |
| Des Moines County | $1,104 | $62,928 | 21.1% |
| Dickinson County | $1,091 | $75,432 | 17.4% |
| Dubuque County | $1,131 | $77,630 | 17.5% |
| Emmet County | $927 | $63,730 | 17.5% |
| Fayette County | $940 | $60,165 | 18.7% |
| Floyd County | $927 | $68,557 | 16.2% |
| Franklin County | $927 | $59,894 | 18.6% |
| Fremont County | $927 | $71,621 | 15.5% |
| Greene County | $927 | $63,409 | 17.5% |
| Grundy County | $1,096 | $87,205 | 15.1% |
| Guthrie County | $1,360 | $77,711 | 21.0% |
| Hamilton County | $1,004 | $72,432 | 16.6% |
| Hancock County | $927 | $70,601 | 15.8% |
| Hardin County | $927 | $65,069 | 17.1% |
| Harrison County | $1,450 | $79,535 | 21.9% |
| Henry County | $958 | $67,436 | 17.0% |
| Howard County | $927 | $67,446 | 16.5% |
| Humboldt County | $927 | $71,946 | 15.5% |
| Ida County | $927 | $63,073 | 17.6% |
| Iowa County | $927 | $71,223 | 15.6% |
| Jackson County | $927 | $74,186 | 15.0% |
| Jasper County | $989 | $71,311 | 16.6% |
| Jefferson County | $1,096 | $61,620 | 21.3% |
| Johnson County | $1,180 | $74,935 | 18.9% |
| Jones County | $927 | $73,531 | 15.1% |
| Keokuk County | $927 | $62,329 | 17.8% |
| Kossuth County | $954 | $67,697 | 16.9% |
| Lee County | $976 | $62,382 | 18.8% |
| Linn County | $1,054 | $77,649 | 16.3% |
| Louisa County | $927 | $77,354 | 14.4% |
| Lucas County | $951 | $61,793 | 18.5% |
| Lyon County | $945 | $76,746 | 14.8% |
| Madison County | $1,360 | $90,855 | 18.0% |
| Mahaska County | $946 | $70,940 | 16.0% |
| Marion County | $1,021 | $78,680 | 15.6% |
| Marshall County | $940 | $73,315 | 15.4% |
| Mills County | $1,450 | $90,753 | 19.2% |
| Mitchell County | $927 | $71,365 | 15.6% |
| Monona County | $927 | $68,377 | 16.3% |
| Monroe County | $927 | $70,996 | 15.7% |
| Montgomery County | $927 | $63,666 | 17.5% |
| Muscatine County | $1,093 | $69,396 | 18.9% |
| O'Brien County | $927 | $68,356 | 16.3% |
| Osceola County | $927 | $69,239 | 16.1% |
| Page County | $927 | $57,953 | 19.2% |
| Palo Alto County | $927 | $72,781 | 15.3% |
| Plymouth County | $1,018 | $83,251 | 14.7% |
| Pocahontas County | $927 | $61,875 | 18.0% |
| Polk County | $1,360 | $83,576 | 19.5% |
| Pottawattamie County | $1,450 | $73,602 | 23.6% |
| Poweshiek County | $1,014 | $67,391 | 18.1% |
| Ringgold County | $927 | $73,346 | 15.2% |
| Sac County | $927 | $73,838 | 15.1% |
| Scott County | $1,056 | $78,277 | 16.2% |
| Shelby County | $927 | $72,738 | 15.3% |
| Sioux County | $1,000 | $86,098 | 13.9% |
| Story County | $1,061 | $69,685 | 18.3% |
| Tama County | $945 | $70,781 | 16.0% |
| Taylor County | $927 | $67,740 | 16.4% |
| Union County | $927 | $57,772 | 19.3% |
| Van Buren County | $950 | $61,161 | 18.6% |
| Wapello County | $1,076 | $64,766 | 19.9% |
| Warren County | $1,360 | $94,588 | 17.3% |
| Washington County | $1,002 | $75,647 | 15.9% |
| Wayne County | $927 | $61,964 | 18.0% |
| Webster County | $927 | $68,975 | 16.1% |
| Winnebago County | $927 | $67,642 | 16.4% |
| Winneshiek County | $927 | $79,066 | 14.1% |
| Woodbury County | $1,194 | $73,658 | 19.5% |
| Worth County | $927 | $78,008 | 14.3% |
| Wright County | $944 | $67,190 | 16.9% |
Metros with member counties in Iowa
BEA 2024, U.S. = 100. Rent is a population-weighted mean of member-county benchmarks where available.
| Metro area | All-items RPP | Housing RPP | 2BR rent / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ames, IA | 88.8 | 69.2 | $1,041 |
| Cedar Rapids, IA | 89.0 | 71.4 | $1,038 |
| Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL | 89.1 | 68.3 | $1,056 |
| Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA | 91.7 | 84.7 | $1,341 |
| Dubuque, IA | 87.3 | 64.0 | $1,131 |
| Iowa City, IA | 91.5 | 84.0 | $1,158 |
| Omaha, NE-IA | 91.9 | 86.4 | $1,443 |
| Sioux City, IA-NE-SD | 86.5 | 57.8 | $1,194 |
| Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA | 87.1 | 63.1 | $1,085 |