Photo: Tony Webster · CC BY 2.0Households in Bloomfield have lower incomes than those in 73% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Bloomfield itself; outside it, Ottumwa draws the most (14%, 19 miles). Below the poverty line: 6.9% of residents; Iowa has 11.1%. Bloomfield grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bloomfield at work: what stands out
The four measures behind Bloomfield’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bloomfield is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #113 of 140 in Iowa. The poverty rate holds Bloomfield’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bloomfield could be anywhere from D to B+.
How many miles Bloomfield commutes
About 33% 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.
Who works in Bloomfield, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 718 residents head out to work, 216 work right here, and 1,137 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,200 people are in Bloomfield on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 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 Bloomfield’s working residents head each day
Where Bloomfield clocks in
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.
The kinds of work in Bloomfield
1,353 jobs are based in Bloomfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bloomfield, 2013 → 2023: 1,270 → 1,353. 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 Bloomfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way, longer than most of Iowa
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bloomfield workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,159 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.
Driving is how Bloomfield gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bloomfield is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #67 of 140 in Iowa. Both inputs place Bloomfield 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 1,213 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). 5.1% of Bloomfield households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bloomfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Bloomfield ranks: 3,518th of 5,131 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 146 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 150 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 190 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,516 | Epworth GA | 1,994 | $67K | 40.6% | 0.0% | 0% | C |
| 3,517 | Bridgeville DE | 2,997 | $65K | 13.4% | 5.8% | 7% | C |
| 3,518 | Bloomfield IA | 2,785 | $61K | 6.9% | 5.5% | 23% | C |
| 3,519 | Vinita Park MO | 1,923 | $54K | 20.8% | 7.1% | 2% | C |
| 3,520 | Homestead PA | 2,822 | $39K | 18.6% | 5.5% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,131 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Bloomfield, 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 Bloomfield: questions
What is the median household income in Bloomfield?
$60,769 (±$9,454) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bloomfield?
6.9%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bloomfield?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bloomfield work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ottumwa (14%, 19 mi), Centerville (3%, 24 mi), Des Moines (2%, 84 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bloomfield walkable?
Bloomfield is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bloomfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bloomfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bloomfield
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.