Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Benton has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
A typical one-way commute lasts 16 minutes, where Iowa has 20 and the U.S. 26. There are 3 jobs in Benton for 8 working residents. Hardly any work in Benton; the top destination outside it is Creston (25%, 25 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Benton, and who commutes in
On a workday 8 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 3 people come in from elsewhere.
About 35 people are in Benton on a workday afternoon, 13% 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 Benton goes to work
Where Benton clocks in
25% of workers
13% of workers
13% 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.
Making and building: 100% of jobs based in Benton
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
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 Benton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Benton: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Benton workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12 commuters (the 8% 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.
Half of Benton commutes less than 24 miles
About 25% 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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 0% of Benton workers work outside Iowa. The job records count 13% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Benton: questions
What is the median household income in Benton?
$51,250 (±$21,736) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Benton?
0.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Benton?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Benton work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Creston (25%, 25 mi), Tingley (13%, 13 mi), Diagonal (13%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Benton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Benton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Benton
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.