Rock Rapids, Iowa.
Typical home $261,102 (+9.6% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$780 (+132%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $22,843 +10%
- $238,259$261,102 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $78,343 +43%
- $182,759$261,102 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.
- Rock Rapids$1,370
- Iowa$1,242
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 10 years.
Typical home values in Rock Rapids, IA rose 9.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Rock Rapids, Lyon County, Iowa
Rock Rapids is a city of 2,611 people in Lyon County. Half its households earn more than $63,942 a year and half less, against $76,746 across Lyon County; 6% of its people live below the poverty line. 71% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 29% are rented. Unemployment in Lyon County was 2.2% in August 2026, and the county had 3.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Rock Rapids is a small city in Lyon County, in the far northwest corner of Iowa. Residents are somewhat older than in many places, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run below the county's, and winters are cold and snowy, with warm summers and a fair amount of rain through the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with others in shops, manufacturing, and transport and warehousing. Some of the largest workplaces in town are the Central Lyon Comm School District, LVO Mfg, which makes bakery machinery and equipment, and R+L Carriers, a long-distance freight trucking company. Commutes are short, and unemployment across Lyon County is low and has changed little from a year ago.
Things to do. Kanaranzi Creek runs in or beside town, and the Rock River and Ash Creek are each a short drive away. For a longer outing, Blue Mounds State Park is a protected area a longer drive away, and the Hinkly House Museum is a museum, also a longer drive away.
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- 975households
- 22%of adults have a degree
- 6%below the poverty line
- 13 mintypical commute
- 12%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Lyon County had 4,951 jobs in 2025, 3.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 25° and lows near 6°; warmest in July, with highs near 85° and lows near 62°. About 35 inches of snow and 29 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Rock Rapids weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Rock Rapids
- Central Lyon Comm School DistrictSchool district117FTE
- LVO MfgBakery machinery and equipment manufacturing37
- R+L Carriers - IACGeneral freight trucking long-distance less than truckload34
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 71 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
- HailVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Rock Rapids’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Lyon County.
Rock Rapids home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Rock Rapids$261,102
- Iowa$236,623
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 7 Rock Rapids listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
- Rock Rapids13.89%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Rock Rapids26
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Rock Rapids8
Zip codes with a Rock Rapids address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Rock Rapids — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.