Wellman, Iowa.
Typical home $249,648 (+9.4% in a year). Iowa City, IA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$724 (+124%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $21,551 +9%
- $228,097$249,648 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $65,861 +36%
- $183,787$249,648 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.
- Wellman$1,310
- 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 Wellman, IA rose 9.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Wellman, Washington County, Iowa
Wellman is a city of 1,524 people in Washington County. Half its households earn more than $57,560 a year and half less, against $75,647 across Washington County; 4% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Washington County was 2.5% in August 2026, and the county had 2.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then construction.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Wellman is a small city in Washington County, Iowa, with homes that are priced a little below what many buyers elsewhere would expect. Household incomes here run below the county's, and few residents live below the poverty line. Winters are cold, with January highs near freezing and lows well below it, and a good deal of snow falls over the season. Summers turn warm, and rain and melted snow add up to a fairly wet year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by the building trades, shops and a range of other services. Across Washington County, the largest workplaces include the Washington Community School District, Washington County Hospital and Walmart. The county has added jobs over the past year, and unemployment there is low and little changed from a year earlier. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than in many towns, and most people travel a moderate distance to work, with only a small number working from home.
Things to do. For time outdoors, the Cedar River and the Skunk River are both a longer drive away, and Pilot Grove State Preserve offers protected land to walk. For history and art, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum is a longer drive away, as is the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art. Kinnick Stadium, a well-known stadium, is also a longer drive away.
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- 581households
- 20%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
- 25 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Washington County had 8,780 jobs in 2025, 2.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 30° and lows near 12°; warmest in July, with highs near 85° and lows near 63°. About 25 inches of snow and 38 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Washington weather station, 14 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Washington County
- Washington Comm School DistrictSchool district283FTE
- Washington County HospitalCritical access hospital239FTE
- Mid-Prairie Comm School DistrictSchool district226FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters170
- Farmers Coop AssociationFertilizer application for crops168
- CIVCO Medical Solutions - ManufacturingInstruments, mechanical microsurgical, manufacturing105
- Highland Comm School DistrictSchool district87FTE
- Iowa Bridge & Culvert, LCHighway construction83
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 22 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,329 people in all across the county; Wellman has one of its own. 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 windVery high
- HailVery high
- DroughtRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Wellman’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 Washington County and the Iowa City, IA metro.
Wellman home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Wellman$249,648
- 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.
- Wellman7
Zip codes with a Wellman address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Wellman — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.