Verified town profile

Shell Rock, Iowa

Incorporated municipality · Population 1,252

Shell Rock is an incorporated municipality of 1,252 residents in Iowa. Its nearest regional center is Waterloo, IA, about 33 minutes away by car. The median home value is $163,100.

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Townsteading score: 89.6
Confidence: High data confidence
Data updated: Jul 26, 2026

Included in the verified public directory after passing every published screening rule. How verification works.

At a glance

Population: 1,252
Median home value: $163,100
Median household income: $78,657
Nearest regional city: Waterloo
Drive time: 33 minutes
Walkability score: 64.5
Homeownership rate: 85%
Townsteading score: 89.6

The case

Why Shell Rock is included

Shell Rock appears in the public directory because it passes every published screening rule: its population of 1,252 falls within the 1,000–5,000 resident screening band; its nearest regional center, Waterloo, is reachable in about 33 minutes by car, inside the 60-minute limit; its town-center walkability analysis completed successfully.

Beyond the screen: its median home value of $163,100 is about 2.1 times median household income; its nationally normalized walkability score is 65 out of 100; OpenStreetMap data records 11 tracked everyday destinations within a 15-minute walk of its center.

The place

Local map

Map key

Bank
Grocery
Library
Park
Place of worship
Post office
Restaurant or café
School

About this map

The map is centered on Shell Rock (42.7123, -92.5817) and shows the municipal boundary from 2025 Census TIGER/Line data. Basemap data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Reachable destinations shown on the map

The Iowa PrimeHouse Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 48 m
CUSB Bank Bank · Approximate network distance: 111 m
United Methodist Church Place of worship · Approximate network distance: 208 m
Shell Rock Post Office Post office · Approximate network distance: 242 m
Faith Lutheran Church Place of worship · Approximate network distance: 590 m
Peace Lutheran Church Place of worship · Approximate network distance: 254 m
Benny Gambaiani Public Library Library · Approximate network distance: 0 m
Kwik Star Grocery · Approximate network distance: 839 m
Shell Rock Elementary School School · Approximate network distance: 255 m
McCauge Park Park · Approximate network distance: 793 m
Hoyt Elliot Memorial Park Park · Approximate network distance: 171 m

Destinations are derived from OpenStreetMap and may be incomplete or outdated.

Daily-life access within a 15-minute walk of the center

1 grocery store
1 restaurant or cafe
1 library
1 post office
2 parks and playgrounds
1 school
1 bank
3 places of worship

Destination counts come from OpenStreetMap and may understate what exists on the ground.

Housing

Housing and affordability

Median home value: $163,100
Median gross rent: $931
Median household income: $78,657
Home value ÷ income: 2.1
Poverty rate: 5.0%

Owner-occupied: 84.9%
Vacancy rate: 10.4%
Homes built before 1940: 32.8%
Homes built before 1960: 53.4%
Population density (per sq mi): 782

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, reference period 2020–2024. Where a value reads “Data unavailable,” the estimate was not reported or did not pass quality checks for this place.

Access

Regional access

Townsteading does not require isolation. Every verified town has a modeled driving route of no more than 60 minutes to a regional center — a city with the hospitals, suppliers, and services a small town leans on.

Nearest regional city: Waterloo, IA
Regional city population: 66,919
Modeled drive time: 33 minutes
Routed distance: 24.8 miles
Straight-line distance: 19.2 miles

Drive times are modeled with OSRM over the OpenStreetMap road network (July 2026). They are not live traffic estimates and will vary with conditions.

Community

Closest Orthodox parish

St. Demetrios Church

Modeled drive time: Approximately 33 minutes by car
Routed distance: 25.2 driving miles
Address: 613 West Fourth Street Waterloo, IA 50702
Jurisdiction: Greek
Phone: 319.232.4773

Parish website

Parish information is based on the Orthodoxy in America directory, retrieved July 27, 2026. Drive time is modeled from the current OSRM route calculation and may change.

Form

Walkability and settlement form

Overall walkability: 64.5
Destination access: 68.7
Network connectivity: 63.5
Compactness: 58.2

The walkability score models what can be reached on foot from the town center over the street network in about 15 minutes: everyday destinations, the connectedness of the street grid, and the compactness of the town's form. Scores are normalized nationally across the candidate corpus, from 0 to 100.

These are modeled measures of urban form derived from OpenStreetMap. They do not confirm sidewalk coverage, crossings, lighting, or pedestrian safety, and OpenStreetMap data may be incomplete in small towns.

People

People and households

Median age: 35.6
Average household size: 2.6
Average family size: 3.2
Mean commute: 24 minutes

Age

Under 18: 29.4%
18–24: 6.9%
25–44: 30.6%
45–64: 15.9%
65 and over: 17.2%

Households

Family households: 69.9%
Nonfamily households: 30.1%
Households with children: 43.4%
Married-couple families: 84.8%
Single-parent families: 11.9%
One-person households: 25.8%

Education (25+)

Less than high school: 7.8%
High school diploma: 38.4%
Some college: 18.5%
Associate degree: 15.0%
Bachelor's degree: 15.2%
Graduate degree: 5.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 20.3%

“Bachelor's degree or higher” is a subtotal of the two degree rows above it.

Race and ethnicity

White: 94.4%
Black: 0.6%
American Indian / Alaska Native: 0.0%
Asian: 0.0%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander: 0.0%
Some other race: 0.0%
Two or more races: 5.0%

Ethnicity, reported separately

Hispanic or Latino (any race): 5.4%
White, not Hispanic or Latino: 93.3%

Hispanic or Latino may be of any race, so the ethnicity rows overlap with the race rows above and are reported separately.

American Community Survey estimates. Race and ethnicity are reported factually for research context and are never used as a compatibility or ranking factor.

Assessment

Strengths and limitations

Potential strengths

Median home value of $163,100 sits below the $200,000 affordability benchmark used in screening.
Housing costs about 2.1 times median household income — inside the 3× benchmark.
Walkability score of 65/100 on the nationally normalized scale.
1 Grocery store within a 15-minute walk of the town center.
85% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.

Important limitations

Walkability scores model street-network access to destinations; they do not confirm sidewalk coverage, crossings, or pedestrian safety.

Townsteading is a research tool, not a sales pitch. Nothing on this page is real-estate, financial, legal, safety, or relocation advice.

Provenance

Data and methodology

Townsteading score: 89.6 / 100
Confidence: High data confidence (96 / 100)
Profile data updated: July 26, 2026
Verification: Passes every published screening rule

Sources

U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer Places. Vintage 2025 — identity, boundaries, coordinates.
U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates. Vintage 2025 — place population.
American Community Survey 5-year estimates. 2024 release, reference period 2020–2024 — housing, income, demographics.
OpenStreetMap. Street network and everyday destinations for walkability analysis.
OSRM routing. Modeled driving time to the nearest regional center; not live traffic.

Read the full methodology Report a correction

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