Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Ossian Opera House and Jacobson Farm is on the National Register of Historic Places. Ossian has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
Where Ossian beats most towns.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Census counts: 444 in 1880, 802 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 2004 and 3 maps from 1906 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ossian, 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 Ossian.
The South Winneshiek Community School District runs its public schools. One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. The 2 public schools in Ossian teach 324 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Winneshiek Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 198 | C |
NCES · EDFacts
Summers in Ossian are pleasant, and winters cold, snowy. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 8° and about 40 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
In Ossian, the rent at the middle of the market is $772 a month, against $911 a month in Iowa’s towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. Typical home values rose 7.6% in the year to September 2026. Ossian: four in five households live in a home they own.
| Ossian | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 80% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $772 a month | $911 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The top destinations are Decorah (35%), Cedar Rapids (3%) and Cresco (3%). Just 6% of Ossian’s working residents have a job in town. The town had 469 jobs in 2023, up 63 from 2013. Half commute less than 11 miles.
| Ossian | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 6.3% | 31% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 19 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 9% | 11% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Among adults in Ossian, 30% feel lonely. The share of adults in Ossian who have high blood pressure is 37%, where Iowa’s towns sit at 35% and U.S. towns at 35%. Of 32 CDC measures, Ossian beats the Iowa average on 4 and trails it on 1. Only 5 of the 141 Iowa towns we compare have a higher share of adults who had a checkup this year than Ossian.
| Ossian | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 21% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| What stands out | Ossian | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5.1% | 6.4% |
| Fewer adults without reliable transportation | 5.6% | 6.8% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.3% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Among 140 Iowa towns, just 3 have a lower share of conserved land than Ossian. Parks and preserves locally: one, of 1 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ossian City Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Federal aid has come to Ossian households in 2 declared disasters; the latest was in 2008. Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in 50% of U.S. communities.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Ossian
About 5 of every 100 Ossian residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Iowa.
3 notable people were born in Ossian.
City in Iowa, United States
Ossian (pronounced|ˈosh-ain) is a city in Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 802 at the time of the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Ossian has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
3 notable people were born here, including Theodore B. Werner and Raymond Philip Etteldorf.
