Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0Batavia has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Employers in Batavia report 33 jobs for 204 working residents. Hardly any stay in Batavia for work; outside it, Fairfield is the main destination (30%, 10 miles). Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, against 11% across Iowa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Batavia, in brief
Batavia is a place people come home to
There are 33 jobs based in Batavia, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Batavia has about 250 people in it, 41% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
30% of Batavia works in Fairfield
61 working residents, 30%, have their main job in Fairfield, 11 miles away. That’s far more as work in Batavia itself. The commute map ↓
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 204 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How a workday changes Batavia
On a workday 203 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 32 people come in from elsewhere.
About 250 people are in Batavia on a workday afternoon, 41% 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.
Where Batavia goes to work
Where Batavia clocks in
30% 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 Batavia’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Batavia, 2013 → 2023: 23 → 33. 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 Batavia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Batavia: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Batavia workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 212 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.
How far Batavia’s workers travel
About 27% 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 Batavia: questions
What is the median household income in Batavia?
$56,250 (±$14,801) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Batavia?
9.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Batavia?
20 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Batavia work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fairfield (30%, 10 mi), Ottumwa (9%, 14 mi), Des Moines (4%, 85 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Batavia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Batavia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Batavia
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.