24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Kent, IA

Kent is an unincorporated census-designated place (CDP) in Union County, in the rolling farm country of southwestern Iowa — it was once an incorporated city, but after years of rural flight the depopulated community disincorporated in 2003, ending its existence as a self-governing town.

Kent was incorporated on August 15, 1903, so its run as an incorporated Iowa city lasted almost exactly one century before the 2003 disincorporation.

Kent's population peaked at 183 residents in the 1920 census, when it was a small but complete farm-service community, and it still counted 169 people as late as 1950.

The 2020 census counted just 37 people in Kent, living in only 13 households and 6 families — a drop of nearly 40% from the 61 residents recorded in 2010.

Kent covers 0.49 square miles of land in Union County, giving it a population density of only about 76 people per square mile in 2020, with just 18 housing units in the entire community.

Kent's residents are notably older than the national average, with a median age of 47.9 years in the 2020 census, and more than half of its households were non-family households.

Kent sits at an elevation of about 1,234 feet in Union County — whose county seat is Creston — and the community is served by ZIP code 50851.