Most of Badger commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Badger report 67 jobs, and 262 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Badger itself; outside it, Fort Dodge draws the most (34%, 7 miles). For 1% of workers, the job is at home; Iowa has 11%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Badger
Badger and Fort Dodge trade workers both ways
Fort Dodge is the top workplace for Badger residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in Badger come from (27% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Badger is a place people come home to
There are 67 jobs based in Badger, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Badger has about 350 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Badger workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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; with 262 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Badger’s working residents head each day
Where Badger clocks in
34% 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.
How a workday changes Badger
On a workday 261 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 66 people come in from elsewhere.
About 350 people are in Badger 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.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Badger
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Badger workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 223 commuters (the 1% 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.
Goods jobs make up 70% of work in Badger
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Badger, 2013 → 2023: 78 → 67. 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 Badger’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Badger to work
About 21% 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.
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 Badger: questions
What is the median household income in Badger?
$72,750 (±$15,656) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Badger?
5.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Badger?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Badger work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Dodge (34%, 7 mi), Webster City (6%, 20 mi), Ames (4%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Badger 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 Badger, from the people who make the trip.
More of Badger
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.