Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 8,214, settled in 1856.
Denison gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $179K for a typical one, or 2.7 years of the county’s $67K median household income. It grades B− overall, 90th of 140 graded towns in Iowa. The low prices come with trade-offs. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 87% of the country, and the median household income is $66K, and 18% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, it is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. 53% of working residents work locally in Denison, above both the Iowa town median (31%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). On civic life, just 10 of Iowa’s 271 towns do worse. Denison has 7 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Yellow Smoke Park Bridge and William A. McHenry House.
Where Denison beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Iowa), ordered by how far Denison is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 326 in 1870, 8,373 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1936 and 2 maps from 1971 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Denison, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Denison.
Denison has seen reported crime fall by about half and has commutes shorter than most of Iowa.
19% of Denison adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance. Of the 140 Iowa towns we compare, none has a higher share of adults who get no exercise outside work than Denison. 76% of Denison adults had a checkup this year.
| Denison | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 7% | 8.1% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 26% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 12% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 18% | 19% |
| What stands out | Denison | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.3% | 8.7% |
| More uninsured adults | 19.2% | 7.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Denison Community School District. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Denison High School, with 777 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denison Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–3 | Grades PK–3 | 691 | D− |
| Denison High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 777 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IA on state tests and graduation
2.8 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Yellow Smoke Park, 158 acres with 1.7 miles of trail.
| Denison | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.1% | 3.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Yellow Smoke Park | 1.7 mi | 158 |
| 2. Northside Recreation Complex | — | 35 |
| 3. Little League Complex | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Denison’s median rent is $731 a month. The typical Denison home is worth about $179,000, up 1.3% in a year, 24% below the Iowa typical home.
| Denison | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $731 a month | $913 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 71% | 70% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Reported crimes fell from 86 to 42 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Denison is 3.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Denison | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.7 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.3 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Denison has cold, snowy winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 10° and about 35 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 3,653 working residents takes 12.7 minutes, against 19.8 across Iowa.
The top destinations are Sioux City (3%), Carroll (2%) and Omaha (2%).
| Denison | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 13 minutes | 19 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $66,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. Since 1990, 75 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Denison.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
None within 15 miles of Denison; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Denison residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Iowa.
7 places in Denison on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in Denison.
City in Iowa, United States
Denison is a city in Crawford County, Iowa, United States, along the Boyer River, and located in both Denison Township and East Boyer Township. The population was 8,373 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Crawford County.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Denison grades B− overall, better than 47% of U.S. towns and #90 of 140 in Iowa. It grades D for health, B+ for safety and C+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
13 notable people were born here, including Donna Reed and James E. Hansen.
