PaloIA
A town of 1,551, settled in 1848.
Is Palo a good place to live?
Palo’s best subject grades are an A for incomes, health, and civic life; its weakest is a D for schools. 35% of residents are under 18 in Palo, where Iowa’s towns sit at 23% and U.S. towns at 22%. Only 20 of Iowa’s 276 towns score lower on walkability. Palo has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Palo stand out
Where Palo beats most towns.
Palo has grown 51% since 2010
1,026 counted in 2010 and 1,407 in 2020; an estimated 1,551 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Palo grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Iowa), ordered by how far Palo is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Palo: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Palo, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Palo.
Palo stands out in Iowa and nationally: a smaller share of its adults have high blood pressure
24% of adults have high blood pressure in Palo, below both the Iowa town median (35%) and the median of U.S. towns (35%). 7.5% of adults have diabetes in Palo. Among 141 Iowa towns, just 3 have a higher share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Palo.
| Palo | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 20% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 35% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 7.5% | 12% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.9% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Palo | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 3.8% | 6.6% |
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 2% | 3.3% |
| More binge drinkers | 25.3% | 20.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Compared with most of Iowa and the rest of the country, more of Palo’s households own their home
98% of Palo households own their home. The typical Palo home is worth about $340,000, up 4.3% in a year, 44% above the Iowa typical home.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
More than half of Palo’s working residents commute to Cedar Rapids
Most working residents leave Palo for work: only 1% work in town. Palo’s average trip to work is 28 minutes. Jobs based in Palo grew to 229 in 2023, 110 more than in 2013.
| Palo | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.5% | 31% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 19 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $106,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5.5% | 11% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
More children than Iowa overall
The median age in Palo is 32.7 years. Palo has grown 9.9% since 2020, to 1,551 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Only 1 of the 141 Iowa towns we compare have a lower share of residents 65 or older than Palo.
| Palo | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 7.1% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 32.7 years | 38.7 years | 40.5 years |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.7 points. Across Iowa, 49.8% of residents are women.
| Palo | IA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 17.7% | 12.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 17.6% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.4% | 10% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15% | 12.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.7% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 16.5% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 4.5% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 2.6% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.8% | 6.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 38.8% | 30% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.1% | 19.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12% | 12.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22% | 20.9% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 5.2% | 10.5% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,600, single groups can be off by several points
In Palo, expect four seasons and pleasant summers
Palo has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 11° and about 34 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Palo has set aside 2.1% of its land for conservation
1.0 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves.
| Palo | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.1% | 3.1% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Drake Park | 0.1 mi | 9 |
| 2. Zeller Memorial Park | — | 7 |
| 3. Dry Creek Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Inland flooding leads a moderate hazard risk in Palo
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 51% of U.S. communities. Since 1993, 51 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Palo.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Kinnick Stadium and 14 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Palo. Close and well known come first.
31 mi Stadium & arenaKinnick Stadium
36 mi MuseumHerbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum37 mi Theme parkLost Island Theme Park
10 mi MuseumNational Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
30 mi Stadium & arenaCarver–Hawkeye Arena
35 mi National Historic SiteHerbert Hoover National Historic Site107K visitors a yearPhoto credits
Kinnick Stadium: Count_de_Des_Moines (talk) (Uploads), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum: Shadow2700, Public domain · National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library: ArtisticAbode, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Carver–Hawkeye Arena: Asolsma1988, CC0 · Herbert Hoover National Historic Site: Billwhittaker, CC BY-SA 3.0
Everything we know about Palo
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Palo
About 1 of every 100 Palo residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Iowa.
99% of working residents leave Palo for work
Where Palo’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Palo
City in Iowa, United States
Palo is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,407 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. Palo is located near Pleasant Creek State Recreation Park.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1854
- Area
- 1.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 741 ft
- ZIP code
- 52324
Questions about Palo
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Palo, IA expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.