Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Agency has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Hardly any stay in Agency for work; outside it, Ottumwa is the main destination (27%, 6 miles). There are 55 jobs in Agency for 273 working residents. At 20 minutes each way, commutes from Agency run about the Iowa average.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Agency
Agency and Ottumwa trade workers both ways
Ottumwa is the top workplace for Agency residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Agency come from (25% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Agency is a place people come home to
There are 55 jobs based in Agency, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Agency has about 390 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 273 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where people from Agency work
Where Agency clocks in
8% 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.
Agency quiets down on a workday
On a workday 272 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 54 people come in from elsewhere.
About 390 people are in Agency on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where in the region Agency works
About 30% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Jobs in Agency: what the 55 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Agency, 2013 → 2023: 137 → 55. 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 Agency’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes to work from Agency
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Agency workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 203 commuters (the 6% 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.
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 Agency: questions
What is the median household income in Agency?
$67,813 (±$12,841) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Agency?
8.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Agency?
20 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Agency work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ottumwa (27%, 6 mi), Fairfield (8%, 18 mi), Des Moines (7%, 78 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Agency without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Agency, from the people who make the trip.
More of Agency
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.