Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Prairie City’s best subject grades are an A+ for cost of living, an A for safety, and an A− for incomes. Only 9 of Iowa’s 127 towns score higher on safety. Prairie City is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns. Of the 116 Iowa towns we compare, none has a lower violent crime rate than Prairie City. Prairie City's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 90% of U.S. towns. Samuel D. Butters House is on the National Register of Historic Places. Prairie City has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Prairie City beats most towns.
Where Prairie City’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Iowa), ordered by how far Prairie City is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 591 in 1880, 1,700 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 2 maps from 1965 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Prairie City, 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 Prairie City.
At 2.3 per 1,000 residents, Prairie City’s property crime rate is against 7.3 in Iowa’s towns and 9.9 across U.S. towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the PCM Community School District. One of its 2 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie City Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–5 | Grades 3–5 | 240 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IA on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Prairie City for work: only 4% work in town. 3.4% of residents live below the poverty line in Prairie City, below both Iowa’s towns (11%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). The average trip to work in Prairie City is 26 minutes.
| Prairie City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 4.1% | 31% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 3.4% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 19 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 16% | 8.5% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Prairie City beats the Iowa average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 21% of Prairie City adults binge drink. Among 141 Iowa towns, just 7 have a lower share of adults who feel lonely than Prairie City.
| Prairie City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 20% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 32% | 36% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Prairie City | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.7% | 6.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Prairie City has cold winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 13° and about 29 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
31% of residents are under 18 in Prairie City. Children under 18 are 31% of residents (23% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 19% of residents (23% statewide). Prairie City’s median age is 36 years.
| Prairie City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 31% | 23% | 22% |
| Median age | 36 years | 38.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 30% | 25% | 29% |
Somewhere between 41% and 63% women
The Census survey reached too few of Prairie City’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±11.2 points. Across Iowa, 49.8% of residents are women.
| Prairie City | IA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 17.4% | 12.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.3% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.7% | 10% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.8% | 12.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.2% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.6% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7.3% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.7% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.1% | 6.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.8% | 30% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.6% | 19.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.6% | 12.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.4% | 20.9% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 4.4% | 10.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,700, single groups can be off by several points
The typical Prairie City home is worth about $271,000, up 4.7% in a year, 14% above the Iowa typical home.
| Prairie City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $800 a month | $911 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 77% | 70% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 55% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0.2 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Among 140 Iowa towns, just 7 have a lower share of conserved land than Prairie City.
| Prairie City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.8% | 3.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Prairie City. Close and well known come first.
20 mi Stadium & arenaCasey's Center14 mi Theme parkAdventureland
19 mi MuseumIowa State Capitol
23 mi MuseumDes Moines Art Center
21 mi Zoo & aquariumBlank Park Zoo
22 mi Stadium & arenaDrake StadiumCasey's Center: Iowahwyman at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Iowa State Capitol: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain · Des Moines Art Center: Nhandler at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Blank Park Zoo: Lawrence Lansing, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Drake Stadium: U.S. Navy photo by James Woods, Public domain
None within 15 miles of Prairie City; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Prairie City residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Iowa.
City in Iowa, United States
Prairie City is a city in Jasper County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,700 at the time of the 2020 census. It is twenty-two miles east of Des Moines.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
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+.
2 notable people were born here, including Brandon Myers and Betty De Boef.
