Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Atlantic (1.1%) than in 94% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Atlantic is behind 72% of U.S. towns. Atlantic grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About two in five work in Atlantic; the top destination outside it is Oakland (4%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Atlantic and work: the main findings
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Atlantic
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Atlantic is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #95 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Atlantic’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (17.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Atlantic could be anywhere from C to B−.
A commute of about 11 minutes in Atlantic
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Atlantic workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,179 commuters (the 10% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Atlantic
On a workday 1,472 residents head out to work, 1,124 work right here, and 2,229 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,400 people are in Atlantic on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.29 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.
Where Atlantic goes to work
Where Atlantic clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
What work there is in Atlantic: 3,353 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Atlantic, 2013 → 2023: 3,761 → 3,353. 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 Atlantic’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Atlantic commutes
About 22% 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.
Driving is how Atlantic gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Atlantic is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #75 of 140 in Iowa. Both inputs place Atlantic 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 3,539 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). 7.3% of Atlantic households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Atlantic’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Atlantic is 2,191st among 3,201 U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,000
| # | 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 197 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 228 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,189 | Hardy Township OH | 6,067 | $63K | 12.4% | 4.0% | 23% | C+ |
| 2,190 | Baltimore Highlands MD | 8,206 | $62K | 18.3% | 6.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,191 | Atlantic IA | 6,676 | $61K | 17.4% | 1.1% | 43% | C+ |
| 2,192 | Church Hill TN | 7,297 | $66K | 6.4% | 13.9% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,193 | Quincy WA | 8,510 | $88K | 6.2% | 7.7% | 36% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,201 | 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 Atlantic, 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 Atlantic: questions
What is the median household income in Atlantic?
$61,141 (±$4,798) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Atlantic?
17.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Atlantic?
11 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Atlantic work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oakland (4%, 20 mi), Council Bluffs (4%, 44 mi), Omaha (3%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Atlantic walkable?
Atlantic is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Atlantic without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Atlantic, from the people who make the trip.
More of Atlantic
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.