County profile · IA
Cost of living in Palo Alto County, Iowa
Estimated housing, health insurance, federal, state and local taxes, and groceries for a household of 2 earning $100,000 per year (married filing jointly), modeled as renters, ACA marketplace subsidies included.
$35,904/yr
Estimated annual cost
#232 of 3,222
National cost rank
$0/yr
ACA subsidy
Where the money goes
- Housing (2 BR rent): $6,312
- Healthcare (ACA Silver, after subsidy): $11,508
- State + local taxes: $2,580
- Federal income tax (est.): $7,644
- Groceries · family of 2: $7,860
| Housing (2 BR rent) | $6,312 |
| Healthcare (ACA Silver, after subsidy) | $11,508 |
| State + local taxes | $2,580 |
| Federal income tax (est.) | $7,644 |
| Groceries · family of 2 | $7,860 |
| Total | $35,904 |
Palo Alto County, Iowa lands at #232 of 3222 on modeled annual cost in our default household scenario (about $28,260 per year).
Estimated housing, health insurance, state and local taxes, and groceries for a household of 2 earning $100,000 per year (married filing jointly), modeled as renters, ACA marketplace subsidies included.
Housing starts from Census ACS 2023 county medians (Non-metropolitan (ACS only)); metro counties may be calibrated to recent market rent indexes. Health insurance uses the second-lowest Silver plan in ACA rating area 19-STATE, net of advance premium tax credits when enabled.
What’s specific to Iowa
State and local income tax on this page reflects IA brackets and any modeled local wage overlays from our committed tax tables—not federal income tax. Qualified retirement plan/IRA distributions generally taxed like ordinary income unless a specific exclusion applies. Groceries follow the USDA Moderate-Cost tier scaled by BEA state regional price parities, with household-size adjustments matching the homepage explorer.
Nearby counties to compare
-
Van Buren, Iowa
$35,880/yr
Van Buren County, IA: about the same modeled annual cost under the same defaults.
View profile → -
Pershing, Nevada
$35,880/yr
Nevada neighbor (Pershing County): about the same modeled annual cost; state tax rules differ from IA.
View profile → -
Union, Kentucky
$35,916/yr
Kentucky neighbor (Union County): about the same modeled annual cost; state tax rules differ from IA.
View profile →
How we calculated Palo Alto County's numbers
- Rent / housing: acs_b25031_zori_calibrated
- Home values (ZHVI): acs_proxy
- Income tax: 2026
- Health / ACA: 2026
- Groceries: SARPP LineCode 2 (Goods)
Dollar figures on this profile use the homepage default household unless your URL includes custom explorer parameters. Rank is among counties with complete modeled totals ( 3,222 U.S. counties in our artifact).