Alta, Iowa, United States

🇺🇸 Alta is a city in Buena Vista County, Iowa, United States.

History Alta was platted in 1872, and it was incorporated in 1878. By 1882, Alta contained three general stores, two drug stores, two grocery stores, a shoe store, two hardware stores, a meat market, two lumber dealers, two agriculture implement dealers, a bank, two furniture stores, a clothing store, a barber shop, two saloons, a music store, two jewelry stores, a restaurant, four blacksmiths, two elevators, and a gristmill.

Halvor H. Peterson (1831–1917), Wisconsin State Assemblyman and farmer, lived in Alta.

Geography Alta is located six miles from the city of Storm Lake and is approximately seven miles from Aurelia, and is located on Highway 7.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.07 square miles (2.77 km²), all land.

Demographics As of the census of 2010, there were 1,883 people, 759 households, and 509 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,759.8 inhabitants per square mile (679.5/km²). There were 838 housing units at an average density of 783.2 per square mile (302.4/km²). The racial makeup was 91.3% White, 1.6% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 4.7% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.7% of the population.

There were 759 households, of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.3% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32.9% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.02.

The median age was 36.5 years. 27.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.2% were from 25 to 44; 24.3% were from 45 to 64; and 17% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup was 48.6% male and 51.4% female.

Education Alta is within the Alta–Aurelia Community School District. It was in the Alta Community School District, which previously operated Alta High School.

The two districts merged into Alta–Aurelia on July 1, 2018.