menu
Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Ottumwa, IA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Ottumwa profile


Living in Ottumwa



Ottumwa is a medium-sized city located in the state of Iowa. With a population of 25,175 people and eight associated neighborhoods, Ottumwa is the 18th largest community in Iowa.

One of the benefits of Ottumwa is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 17.89 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.

The percentage of adults in Ottumwa who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 19.33% of the adults in Ottumwa have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Ottumwa in 2018 was $29,395, which is low income relative to Iowa, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $117,580 for a family of four. However, Ottumwa contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Ottumwa is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Ottumwa home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Ottumwa residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Ottumwa also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 14.90% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Ottumwa include German, English, Irish, Dutch, and Swedish.

The most common language spoken in Ottumwa is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.