Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Ottumwa spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.89 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.
The percentage of adults in Ottumwa who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 19.33% of the adults in Ottumwa have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Ottumwa in 2018 was $29,395, which is low income relative to Iowa, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $117,580 for a family of four. However, Ottumwa contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Ottumwa is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Ottumwa home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Ottumwa residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Ottumwa also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 14.90% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Ottumwa include German, English, Irish, Dutch, and Swedish.
The most common language spoken in Ottumwa is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.
