Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A typical home costs 2 years of the county’s $74K median household income.
Sac City’s best subject grades are an A for cost of living and civic life and an A− for history; its weakest is a C− for incomes. Among 138 Iowa towns, just 3 have a lower midpoint rent than Sac City. Sac City has 7 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Sac County Courthouse and Seven Oaks. Sac City has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Sac City beats most towns.
Census counts: 156 in 1870, a peak of 3,354 in 1960, 2,063 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1893 and a map from 1980 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Iowa), ordered by how far Sac City is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sac 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 Sac City.
Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 11% in value. Nearly two thirds of Sac City households live in a home they own, where Iowa’s towns sit at 70% and U.S. towns at 73%.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Public schools: the East Sac County Community School District. Its one school is below. Enrollment at Sac City’s public school: 433 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Sac County ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 433 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IA on state tests and graduation
Iowa has 31% of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more; here it is 24%. Adults 18 to 34 are 13% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 26% of residents (18% statewide). The age of the median resident for Sac City comes to 46.9 years. The Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate puts Sac City at 1,993 residents, down 3.3% since 2020.
| Sac City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 27% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 46.9 years | 38.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 18% | 23% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 24% | 25% | 29% |
55% women, 45% men
About 82 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±3.9 points). Across Iowa, 49.8% of residents are women. Among residents 18 to 24, 79% are women (IA 48%).
| Sac City | IA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9% | 12.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.2% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.2% | 10% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.2% | 12.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.4% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.3% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 17.1% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.2% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 15.2% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.9% | 6.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.8% | 30% | 26% |
| Some college | 17% | 19.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 18.4% | 12.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.1% | 20.9% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 4.8% | 10.5% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,000, single groups can be off by several points
A winter brings about 31 inches of snow, with January nights at 9° and July afternoons at 84°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Roughly one working resident in four has a job in Sac City itself. The average trip to work for Sac City comes to 17 minutes, against 19 minutes in Iowa’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Sac City dropped by 100, to 861. The top destinations are Lake View (8%), Storm Lake (5%) and Lytton (4%).
| Sac City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 18% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 17 minutes | 19 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 27% | 31% | 8% |
| Median household income | $57,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For Sac City, the violent offense rate is 3.5 per 1,000 residents. The rate of thefts and burglaries in the town is 2.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Sac City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.5 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.5 per 1,000 residents | 7.3 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
0.3 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Sac City Wetland Complex, at 79 acres. The town’s concentration of trails is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Sac City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.7% | 3.1% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sac City Wetland Complex | — | 79 |
| 2. Chautauqua Park | — | 28 |
| 3. Sac City Access | — | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Of the losses FEMA expects in Sac City, 36% come from inland flooding and 28% from tornadoes. Compared with 52% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in the town is higher. Households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid in 6 declared disasters, most recently in 2019.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
A third of adults sleep under 7 hours in Sac City. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Sac City is ahead of Iowa on 3 and behind on 4. In Sac City, 19% of adults binge drink, and 38% have high blood pressure.
| Sac City | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 38% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 20% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 35% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 33% |
| What stands out | Sac City | IA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.9% | 11.6% |
| More adults screened for colon cancer | 72.8% | 66.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.2% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
None within 15 miles of Sac City; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Sac City residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Iowa.
7 places in Sac City on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Sac City.
City in Iowa, United States
Sac City is a city in and the county seat of Sac County, Iowa, United States, just southwest of the eastern intersection of U.S. Routes 20 and 71 in the rolling hills along the valley of the Raccoon River. The city is one of 45 designated Main Street Iowa communities in the Main Street Iowa development program. The population was 2,063 in the 2020 census, a decline from 2,368 in 2000.
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.
8 notable people were born here, including Eric Swalwell and Linda Hayes.
