Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 3.0Making a living in Bonaparte
At 19 minutes each way, commutes from Bonaparte run about the Iowa average. Working from home is the commute for 0% of workers, against 11% across Iowa. Only 2% work in Bonaparte itself; outside it, Keosauqua draws the most (20%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
In and out of Bonaparte on a workday
On a workday 125 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 147 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.17 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Bonaparte’s working residents head each day
Where Bonaparte clocks in
20% of workers
14% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 45% of the jobs in Bonaparte
149 jobs are based in Bonaparte.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bonaparte, 2014 → 2024: 266 → 149. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bonaparte’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Bonaparte: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bonaparte workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 116 commuters (the 0% 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.
Where in the region Bonaparte works
About 30% 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 2024.
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 2024, 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 Bonaparte: questions
What is the median household income in Bonaparte?
$40,909 (±$12,588) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bonaparte?
16.6%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bonaparte?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bonaparte work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Keosauqua (20%, 9 mi), Fairfield (14%, 23 mi), Ottumwa (6%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Bonaparte without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bonaparte, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bonaparte
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.