Palo Alto County, Iowa

• White (non-Hispanic) 8,088 91.3%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 311 3.5%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 145 1.6%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 57 0.6%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 247 2.8%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 7 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 8 0.1%

• Under 18 2,044 23.1%
• 18–24 770 8.7%
• 25–44 1,992 22.5%
• 45–64 2,087 23.5%
• 65 and over 1,970 22.2%

Median household income

$67,377

90% interval $59,840–$74,914

−$8,246 vs IA · 76th of 99

Below poverty line

11.8%

90% interval 9.4%–14.2%

+0.6 pp vs IA · 31st of 99

Unemployment (12-mo)

2.6%

−0.71 pp vs. state

County GDP

$796.3M

0.3% of state

Avg. annual pay

$49,216

Establishments

330

• Trade, transportation & utilities 610 16.7%
• Manufacturing 469 12.8%
• Education & health services 415 11.3%
• Leisure & hospitality 384 10.5%
• Natural resources & mining 342 9.3%
• Construction 196 5.4%
• Financial activities 107 2.9%
• Professional & business services 92 2.5%
• Other services 51 1.4%
• Information 25 0.7%
• Public administration 11 0.3%

The sectors listed cover 73.8% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

77.1%

+5.4 pp vs IA · 46th of 99

Median gross rent

$638

−$334 vs IA · 97th of 99

Owner-occupied

2,915

Renter-occupied

867

• Diversified

  Top three sectors employ 41% of the workforce, a relatively diversified local economy. Expect mixed employer backgrounds on the panel rather than concentration in any one institution or industry.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $82,468/yr) pays 3.3× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $24,809/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 11 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 3,576 71.9%
• Democratic 1,338 26.9%
• Other / third-party 62 1.2%

• Spanish 153 1.8%
• German or other West Germanic 37 0.4%
• Tagalog 6 0.1%
• Vietnamese 5 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 4 0.0%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 2 0.0%
• Arabic 1 0.0%

Households

3,782

Family households

2,173

57.5% of households

Married couples w/ children

726

33.4% of families

Single-mother families

143

6.6% of families

Veterans

507

7.4% of civilians 18+

• Catholic 2,166 24.1%
• Mainline Protestant 1,888 21.0%
• Evangelical Protestant 1,067 11.9%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 1 0.0%

Health insured

95.2%

±1.6 pp

Uninsured

4.8%

±1.6 pp

53rd of 99

With a disability

13.3%

±1.9 pp

65th of 99

Bachelor's or higher

19.0%

±2.5 pp

−12.4 pp vs IA · 85th of 99

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

5.9%

90% interval 5.1%–6.7% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

3rd Judicial District Court

Judges

11 (District Court judges per Judicial Election District (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction). District Associate, Associate Juvenile, and Magistrate judges (limited jurisdiction) are separately allocated and not counted here. Vintage 2026 iowacourts.gov directory; counts cross-checked against Iowa Code § 602.6201.)

Court seats

Algona, Cherokee, Denison, Emmetsburg, Estherville, Ida Grove, Le Mars, Onawa, Orange City, Primghar, Rock Rapids, Sibley, Sioux City, Spencer, Spirit Lake, Storm Lake

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

1

14.66 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

1