Ossian is a community in the state of Iowa. Like many communities in the state, it has a thriving business community. However, it does face its fair share of challenges, including housing affordability. Ossian's rent burden is relatively high, compared to the state average of 27.5%. However, neighboring cities such as Garnavillo and Brownsville have much higher rent burdens. In 2016, about 20.3% of Ossian's housing units were occupied by renters.
Ossian is a predominantly white community, with 99.6% white residents, 0.4% black people, and 0.3% Hispanics. However, this does not necessarily mean that the majority of the population is white. During the last census, only 1.1% of residents identified as Hispanic, making Ossian's population predominantly white. There are also differences between the sexes, as one can see in the median household income. Ossian's median household income is $55,782; however, the average household income is $60,121. There are eighty percent high school graduates in the city, and about 45 percent dropped out of college. This makes Ossian an excellent place for advertising, because of the diversity of its residents.
The median age of the population was 54.2 years. The youngest population members were 6.7% of the population. The second largest group was 65-and-over citizens. In terms of gender, 88.7% of the town's population was male, while 49.1% was female. Interestingly enough, the town's population was made up of non-families. A quarter of all households were non-family. The remaining one-fifth were individuals, while twenty-one percent of the population was senior citizens living alone.