Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,882, settled in 1870. 2 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Iowa town.
The best of Stuart’s subject grades are an A for cost of living, an A− for walkability, and an A+ for civic life; the weakest is a C for incomes. 7.4% of working residents work locally in Stuart, where Iowa’s towns sit at 31% and U.S. towns at 8%. Among 138 Iowa towns, just 9 have a lower typical rent than Stuart. Stuart has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Loucks Grove Church and Masonic Temple Building. Stuart has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Stuart beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Iowa), ordered by how far Stuart is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,994 in 1880, 1,782 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1875 and 2 maps from 1952 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Stuart, 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 Stuart.
Its two schools are below. 2 public schools serve Stuart, with 475 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stuart Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 211 | – |
| West Central Valley High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 264 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IA on state tests and graduation
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 12° and about 26 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for Stuart comes to 23 minutes, above Iowa’s towns (19 minutes) but below U.S. towns (25 minutes). Commuting out is the norm locally: 7% of working residents work locally. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs locally rose by 60, to 627. The top destinations are Guthrie Center (12%), West Des Moines (7%) and Des Moines (6%).
| Stuart | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 19 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 12% | 8.5% | 11% |
| Median household income | $65,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Stuart after 4 declared disasters, most recently in 2024. Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in 56% of U.S. communities. FEMA puts a third of the town’s expected hazard losses down to cold waves, and 23% to drought.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Home values are up 4.3% over the year to September 2026. Among households in Stuart, 71% own their home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
16% of adults smoke cigarettes in Stuart. Two figures for adults locally: 20% have been diagnosed with depression, 33% sleep under 7 hours.
| Stuart | Iowa towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 20% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 21% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 32% | 36% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 35% | 35% |
| What stands out | Stuart | IA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.3% | 8.7% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 3.9% | 3.3% |
| More adults with heart disease | 7.7% | 6.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Trails total 0.7 miles in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Stuart Sports Complex, at 34 acres. For Stuart, the density of trails is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Stuart Sports Complex | 0.5 mi | 34 |
| 2. Lawbaugh City Park | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Stuart; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Stuart residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Iowa.
4 places in Stuart on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Stuart.
City in Iowa, United States
Stuart is a city in Lincoln Township, Adair County, and in Stuart Township, Guthrie County, in the U.S. state of Iowa. That part of the city within Guthrie County is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,782 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
2 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Iowa town.
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.
4 notable people were born here, including William R. Peers and George E. Collins.
