Le Mars, Iowa.
Typical home $280,343 (+4.3% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$772 (+110%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $11,519 +4%
- $268,824$280,343 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $60,368 +27%
- $219,975$280,343 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.
- Le Mars$1,471
- Iowa$1,242
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Le Mars, IA rose 4.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Le Mars, Plymouth County, Iowa
Le Mars is a city of 10,571 people in Plymouth County. Half its households earn more than $74,701 a year and half less, against $83,251 across Plymouth County; 9% of its people live below the poverty line. 62% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 38% are rented. Unemployment in Plymouth County was 2.8% in August 2026, and the county had 0.7% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Le Mars is a small city in Plymouth County, in northwest Iowa. Its residents are somewhat younger than the typical American, and household incomes run below the county's. More homes here are rented than across the county as a whole, though most are still lived in by their owners. Winters are cold and snowy, and summers are warm.
Work. Many residents work in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, or in transport, warehouses and utilities. Wells Enterprises, which makes ice cream and keeps its offices and refrigerated warehousing here, is the best known employer, and the Le Mars Comm School District is also among the largest workplaces. Commutes are short, and very few people work from home.
Things to do. For time outdoors, Stone State Park is a protected area, and Ravine Park is a park, though both are a longer drive away. The Orpheum Theatre is a theatre, and the Sioux City Public Museum is a museum, each also a longer drive away. The Big Sioux River is a longer drive away too.
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- 4,342households
- 21%of adults have a degree
- 9%below the poverty line
- 16 mintypical commute
- 3%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Plymouth County had 11,642 jobs in 2025, 0.7% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 27° and lows near 7°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 62°. About 31 inches of snow and 30 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Le Mars weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Le Mars
- Wells EnterprisesIce cream manufacturing1,376
- Wells EnterpriseCorporate offices405
- Wells EnterprisesRefrigerated warehousing355
- Wells EnterprisesIce cream manufacturing329
- Le Mars Comm School DistrictSchool district294FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters238
- Floyd Valley HealthcareHospitals, general medical and surgical200
- BoDeansCommercial bakeries161
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 23 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 4,052 people in all. 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
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Ice stormsrelatively high in parts of Le MarsRelatively moderate
- Hailrelatively high in parts of Le MarsRelatively moderate
- Strong windrelatively high in parts of Le MarsRelatively moderate
- Lightningrelatively high in parts of Le MarsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Le Mars’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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 Plymouth County.
Le Mars home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Le Mars$280,343
- 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.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Le Mars listings — the market is cooling.
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
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Le Mars32.80%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Le Mars38
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Le Mars13
Zip codes with a Le Mars address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Le Mars — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.