Birmingham has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, where Iowa as a whole has 11%. There are 26 jobs in Birmingham for 113 working residents. Hardly any work in Birmingham; the top destination outside it is Keosauqua (23%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Birmingham for work, and who comes in
On a workday 112 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 25 people come in from elsewhere.
About 280 people are in Birmingham on a workday afternoon, 24% 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 people from Birmingham work
Where Birmingham clocks in
23% of workers
18% of workers
7% 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: 31% of jobs based in Birmingham
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Birmingham, 2013 → 2023: 37 → 26. 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 Birmingham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Birmingham, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Birmingham workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 205 commuters (the 3% 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.
Birmingham’s commute, mile by mile
About 23% 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 Birmingham: questions
What is the median household income in Birmingham?
$65,000 (±$16,032) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Birmingham?
13.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Birmingham?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Birmingham work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Keosauqua (23%, 10 mi), Fairfield (18%, 9 mi), Bonaparte (7%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Birmingham without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Birmingham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Birmingham
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.