Leon, Iowa.
Typical home $151,616 (+6.9% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$262 (+49%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $9,794 +7%
- $141,822$151,616 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $1,372 -1%
- $152,988$151,616 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.
- Leon$796
- Iowa$1,242
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Leon, IA rose 6.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Leon, Decatur County, Iowa
Leon is a city of 1,822 people in Decatur County. Half its households earn more than $54,231 a year and half less, against $59,044 across Decatur County; 11% of its people live below the poverty line. 52% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 48% are rented. Unemployment in Decatur County was 3.0% in August 2026, and the county had 1.9% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Leon is a small city in Decatur County, Iowa, where incomes run a little below the county's and homes are lived in by their owners about as often as they are rented out, with owners holding a slim majority. Homes here are modestly priced, and relatively few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with plenty of snow, and summers turn properly warm.
Work. Most residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops, and restaurants and hotels also employing many. The largest workplaces in Leon are the Central Decatur Comm School District, Decatur County Hospital and Hy-Vee. Unemployment in the county is low and has barely moved from a year earlier, and the county has added a few more jobs. Commutes are on the longer side for a town this size, and very few people work from home.
Things to do. Nine Eagles State Park, a protected area, is a short drive away and the nearest place to get outdoors. Farther afield, a longer drive brings you to rivers and creeks such as the Weldon River and Indian Creek, which suit anyone who likes time by the water.
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- 818households
- 14%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 27 mintypical commute
- 2%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Decatur County had 2,312 jobs in 2025, 1.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 33° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 63°. About 28 inches of snow and 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Leon Ese weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Leon
- Central Decatur Comm School DistrictSchool district113FTE
- Decatur County HospitalCritical access hospital96FTE
- Hy-VeeSupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores25
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 164 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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 windRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Leon’s 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 Decatur County.
Leon home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Leon$151,616
- Iowa$236,623
- United States$366,157
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.
- Leon11
Zip codes with a Leon address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Leon — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.