Atkins has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Measured by household income, Atkins is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns. Atkins has 185 jobs, against 1,061 working residents. The two grades for Atkins are A for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Atkins, in a few figures
43% of Atkins works in Cedar Rapids
457 working residents, 43%, have their main job in Cedar Rapids, 9.4 miles away. That’s 43 times as many as work in Atkins itself. The commute map ↓
Atkins is a place people come home to
There are 185 jobs based in Atkins, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Atkins has about 1,300 people in it, 40% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Atkins
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Atkins is better than 87% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($112,138, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Atkins could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
43% of working residents work in Cedar Rapids
Where Atkins clocks in
43% of workers
3% 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.
Atkins on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,047 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 171 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Atkins on a workday afternoon, 40% 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.
What Atkins’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Atkins, 2013 → 2023: 130 → 185. 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 Atkins’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 21 minutes from Atkins
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Atkins workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,092 commuters (the 14% 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 Atkins goes to work
About 18% 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.
Few in Atkins walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Atkins is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,264 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). 2.7% of Atkins households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Atkins’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Atkins ranks: 502nd of 5,641 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 219 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 500 | Union Township OH | 2,986 | $89K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 19% | A |
| 501 | Cataula GA | 1,522 | $124K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 502 | Atkins IA | 2,203 | $112K | 5.3% | 2.5% | 1% | A |
| 503 | Clay Township IN | 2,422 | $100K | 4.5% | 1.0% | 3% | A |
| 504 | Brillion WI | 1,644 | $91K | 2.3% | 0.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,641 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Atkins, 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 Atkins: questions
What is the median household income in Atkins?
$112,138 (±$11,245) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Atkins?
5.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Atkins?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Atkins work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedar Rapids (43%, 9 mi), Iowa City (5%, 29 mi), Marion (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Atkins walkable?
Atkins is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Atkins without a car?
1% 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 Atkins, from the people who make the trip.
More of Atkins
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.