Columbus Junction, Iowa.
Typical home $164,379 (+4.8% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$471 (+120%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,579 +5%
- $156,800$164,379 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $43,124 +36%
- $121,255$164,379 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Columbus Junction$863
- Iowa$1,242
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Columbus Junction, IA rose 4.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Columbus Junction, Louisa County, Iowa
Columbus Junction is a city of 1,830 people in Louisa County. Half its households earn more than $63,828 a year and half less, against $77,354 across Louisa County; 10% of its people live below the poverty line. 76% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 24% are rented. Unemployment in Louisa County was 3.5% in August 2026, and the county had 5.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Louisa County work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Columbus Junction is a small Iowa city where most homes are lived in by their owners, and homes are priced within reach for many buyers. The population is younger than in much of the country, and household incomes run below the county's. Winters are cold, with plenty of snow, and summers are warm, with rain and melted snow spread through the year.
Work. Residents work mainly in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in the building trades. Across Louisa County, the largest workplaces include Tyson Fresh Meats and the Louisa-Muscatine Community School District. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than in many places, and only a small number work from home. Jobs across the county have slipped in the past year, though unemployment in the county is lower than it was a year earlier.
Things to do. The Cedar River and Short Creek run in or beside town, and Goose Creek is a short drive away. For a longer day out, the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is a protected area a longer drive away, and Wildcat Den State Park is another protected area a longer drive away.
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- 699households
- 18%of adults have a degree
- 10%below the poverty line
- 5%work from home
What people in Louisa County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Louisa County had 3,697 jobs in 2025, 5.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 30° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 63°. About 31 inches of snow and 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Columbus Junction weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Louisa County
- Tyson Fresh MeatsAnimal slaughtering1,305
- Louisa-Muscatine Comm School DistrictSchool district136FTE
- Columbus Comm School DistrictSchool district104FTE
- MidAmerican Energy CompanyElectric power generation, fossil fuel98
- Wapello Comm School DistrictSchool district96FTE
- Fortrex - 0057 Tyson Foods Inc. - Columbus JunctionJanitorial services87
- Care Initiatives72
- Colonial ManorNursing homes62
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,693 people in all across the county; Columbus Junction has two of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Strong windVery high
- DroughtRelatively high
- HailRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Columbus Junction’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Louisa County.
Columbus Junction home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Columbus Junction$164,379
- Iowa$236,623
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Columbus Junction8
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Columbus Junction address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Columbus Junction — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.