Chickasaw County Courthouse · Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Most of Alta Vista commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Alta Vista has 20 jobs; 90 of its residents have a job. Hardly any stay in Alta Vista for work; outside it, New Hampton is the main destination (22%, 11 miles). 18% of workers work from home; Iowa has 11%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Alta Vista on a workday afternoon
On a workday 90 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 20 people come in from elsewhere.
About 150 people are in Alta Vista on a workday afternoon, 32% 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 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Alta Vista’s residents
Where Alta Vista clocks in
22% of workers
4% 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.
Jobs in Alta Vista: what the 20 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alta Vista, 2014 → 2024: 21 → 20. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Alta Vista’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Alta Vista: about 32 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alta Vista workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 107 commuters (the 18% 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.
How far Alta Vista goes to work
About 29% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Alta Vista: questions
What is the median household income in Alta Vista?
$44,500 (±$10,048) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alta Vista?
12.9%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alta Vista?
32 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alta Vista work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Hampton (22%, 11 mi), Waterloo (4%, 49 mi), Fredericksburg (3%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Alta Vista without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alta Vista, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alta Vista
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.