Housing Policy Reading Room

Updated annually, the headline number from Out of Reach is always the estimate of the hourly wage a person needs to earn in order to afford a modest 2 bedroom apartment. This year, for Iowa as a whole, it's $16.55/hour. 

But the data in this report goes deeper-our state profile allows you to see which common occupations in Iowa earn enough to comfortably afford housing, and which dont.  The upshot? Tens of thousands of jobs in Iowa do not support finding a place to live without financial strain.

The Iowa Association of Realtors provides a comprehensive overview of what's happening in Iowa's residential real estate market. Especially if your interest is in single family homes, you'll find useful data about prices, inventory, sales trends, and more.

The Iowa Profile is one of the most comprehensive resources for housing data imagineable for Iowa communities. We often say if someone recommends your community take on a housing study, you might find The Iowa Profile has already done the work for you.

Provided by our state's housing finance agency, the Iowa Finance Authority, this resource contains extremely detailed housing data for the state as a whole as well as every county and a huge number of Iowa cities. While we appreciate the interactive data viewer, through the "reports" section of the profile's website, it is possible to download a more traditional PDF report view of the data that might be more accessible for some users. (Although be advised: The file sizes can be very large.)

We frequently rely on this database as a way of showing whether the income people and families earn at their jobs is sufficient to afford the rent in our community. Using Paycheck to Paycheck you can search among almost 150 different occupations to see what type of housing typical wages will support.

Learn about the economic and social disparities affecting Black Polk County.

One of the Trust Fund's most popular resources, this chart is updated annually to show how percentages of area median income (AMI) translate into real household incomes, and what rents are affordable to households earning different incomes.

About one third of residents in Greater Des Moines live in a census tract identified as an environmental justice area as identified by the Des Moines Area MPO.

The Cost of Living in Iowa report is similar to the MIT Living Wage Calculator but is produced by an Iowa-based nonprofit, Common Good Iowa. An advantage this report has over others, however, is its estimate of the tax burden and benefits Iowa families would receive.

In housing, it is essential to "disaggregate the data," splitting apart common housing indicators to see disparities that exist in our community according to race and ethnicity, among other factors. The National Equity Atlas is billed as "America's most detailed report card on racial and economic equity." It contains searchable indicators on a variety of factors related to the economic inclusion of communities of color - and much more.

MIT uses data about typical household expenses in an area to calculate a living wage - the amount of money a person needs to earn to fully support his or herself and their family. Calculations are available for counties, metro areas, or states. You are able to see a variety of houeshold configurations, such as how the situation changes for a single adult living alone, versus a single parent or dual-income earning household.

Learn about our state's challenge supporting extremely low income renters.