Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Adel (2.7%) than in 75% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Adel itself; outside it, West Des Moines draws the most (19%, 13 miles). Adel grades A− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Adel is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Adel
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Adel is better than 81% of U.S. towns, #26 of 140 in Iowa. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Adel’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Adel could be anywhere from B− to A+.
The daily flow of workers through Adel
On a workday 2,625 residents head out to work, 343 work right here, and 1,722 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,200 people are in Adel on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.70 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Adel commutes to
Where Adel clocks in
19% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
What the 2,065 jobs in Adel are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Adel, 2013 → 2023: 1,730 → 2,065. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Adel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Adel: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Adel workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,632 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across Iowa: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Adel
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Adel commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Adel is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #71 of 140 in Iowa. Both inputs place Adel near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,125 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.6% of Adel households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Adel’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Adel ranks: 752nd of 3,164 U.S. towns of 5,000 to 9,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 318 | Windsor Heights IA | 5,059 | $92K | 6.2% | 1.4% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 750 | Whiskey Creek FL | 5,371 | $104K | 7.4% | 3.3% | 3% | A− |
| 751 | Waller WA | 7,683 | $101K | 7.6% | 3.6% | 2% | A− |
| 752 | Adel IA | 7,098 | $95K | 7.2% | 2.7% | 12% | A− |
| 753 | Gray ME | 8,676 | $95K | 3.5% | 3.4% | 9% | A− |
| 754 | Hollis ME | 5,003 | $96K | 5.7% | 1.8% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,164 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Adel, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Adel: questions
What is the median household income in Adel?
$95,250 (±$22,906) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Adel?
7.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Adel?
22 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Adel work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Des Moines (19%, 13 mi), Des Moines (17%, 21 mi), Urbandale (7%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Adel walkable?
Adel is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Adel without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Adel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Adel
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.