Photo: Kevin Schuchmann · CC BY-SA 3.0Anamosa’s household incomes are lower than in 73% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 18.5% of residents, next to 11.1% for Iowa as a whole. Anamosa grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in seven stay in Anamosa for work; outside it, Cedar Rapids is the main destination (22%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Anamosa at work: what stands out
Anamosa trades workers with the towns around it
Anamosa has about as many jobs (1,982) as working residents (2,319), but they are mostly different people: 1,973 residents leave for work each day while 1,636 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Anamosa are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Anamosa’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Anamosa is Cedar Rapids, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 22% of working residents (505) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Anamosa workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 27 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 207 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Inside Anamosa’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Anamosa is better than 24% of U.S. towns, #121 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Anamosa’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Anamosa could be anywhere from D to B.
The workday shuffle in and out of Anamosa
On a workday 1,973 residents head out to work, 346 work right here, and 1,636 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.85 per resident).
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 commute from Anamosa, by distance
About 24% 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.
Commuting from Anamosa: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Anamosa workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,963 commuters (the 4% 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.
Where Anamosa’s working residents head each day
Where Anamosa 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.
What Anamosa’s employers do
1,982 jobs are based in Anamosa.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Anamosa, 2013 → 2023: 1,605 → 1,982. 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 Anamosa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Anamosa: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Anamosa is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #80 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.4% across Iowa.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,054 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.5% of Anamosa households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Anamosa’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,494 U.S. towns of 4,100 to 8,000, Anamosa comes 2,772nd on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 240 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,770 | Pupukea HI | 4,679 | $100K | 14.8% | 7.7% | 5% | C− |
| 2,771 | Crooked River Ranch OR | 5,160 | $86K | 9.4% | 8.6% | 6% | C− |
| 2,772 | Anamosa IA | 5,901 | $61K | 18.5% | 5.2% | 15% | C− |
| 2,773 | Newton Falls OH | 4,504 | $51K | 15.5% | 6.8% | 10% | C− |
| 2,774 | Goshen CA | 5,136 | $73K | 24.2% | 8.0% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,494 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Anamosa, 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 Anamosa: questions
What is the median household income in Anamosa?
$60,650 (±$2,744) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Anamosa?
18.5%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Anamosa?
27 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Anamosa work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedar Rapids (22%, 23 mi), Monticello (5%, 10 mi), Marion (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Anamosa walkable?
Anamosa is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Anamosa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Anamosa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Anamosa
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.