Jury Pool Profile

Polk County, Iowa

Democratic +11 (2024)

Population: 497,441
Median household income: $81,621
Unemployment: 3.8%

Who sits on a jury?

Race & ethnicity

White alone 387,043 77.8%
Black or African American alone 37,411 7.5%
Asian alone 24,695 5.0%
American Indian / Alaska Native alone 1,552 0.3%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander alone 91 0.0%
Some other race alone 15,331 3.1%
Two or more races 31,318 6.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 49,816 10.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Age distribution

Median age 36.2

Under 18 122,384 24.6%
18–24 43,467 8.7%
25–44 145,951 29.3%
45–64 117,613 23.6%
65 and over 68,026 13.7%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Economic context

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 3.8%; +0.3 pp vs. state
County GDP: $63.8B; 24.01% of state
Avg. annual pay: $72,557
Establishments: 20,581

U.S. BLS 2026M02 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2024

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Trade, transportation & utilities 67,841 21.3%
Education & health services 62,352 19.6%
Professional & business services 48,210 15.2%
Financial activities 36,260 11.4%
Leisure & hospitality 29,761 9.4%
Construction 20,908 6.6%
Manufacturing 19,917 6.3%
Public administration 16,282 5.1%
Other services 10,200 3.2%
Information 4,970 1.6%
Natural resources & mining 278 0.1%

BLS QCEW 2024

Housing

Home ownership: 67.1%
Median gross rent: $1,113
Owner-occupied: 135,757
Renter-occupied: 66,647

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Political composition

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 255,563 votes cast

Democratic 140,075 54.8%
Republican 112,240 43.9%
Other / third-party 3,248 1.3%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Languages spoken at home

85.4% speak only English at home

Spanish 32,012 6.9%
Other Asian/Pacific 9,246 2.0%
Other 6,947 1.5%
Slavic languages 5,003 1.1%
Other Indo-European 3,568 0.8%
Vietnamese 3,299 0.7%
Arabic 2,864 0.6%
Chinese 1,857 0.4%
French (incl. Cajun) 1,190 0.3%
German 706 0.2%
Korean 502 0.1%
Tagalog 444 0.1%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Household composition

Households: 202,404
Family households: 123,050; 60.8% of households
Married w/ children: 91,673
Single-mother households: 13,973
Veterans: 22,413; 6% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Religious composition

38.7% overall adherence rate

Catholic 66,540 13.5%
Evangelical Protestant 53,560 10.9%
Mainline Protestant 46,236 9.4%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 17,109 3.5%
Black Protestant 6,612 1.3%
Orthodox 627 0.1%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 95.1%
With a disability: 11.2%
Bachelor's or higher: 39.5%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Court infrastructure

Trial court: 5th Judicial District Court
Judges: 27 (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: Adel, Bedford, Chariton, Corning, Corydon, Creston, Des Moines, Greenfield, Guthrie Center, Indianola, Knoxville, Leon, Mount Ayr, Newton, Osceola, Winterset

Court reference

Traffic safety context

Iowa statewide totals, 2023 — not county-specific

Traffic fatalities: 39; 10.4 per 100k drivers
Fatal crashes: 37

NHTSA FARS 2023