Photo: Dan Breyfogle · CC BY-SA 3.0Boone has lower unemployment (2.0%) than 85% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Boone B; getting around on foot earns it A−. About one in four work in Boone itself; outside it, Ames draws the most (24%, 13 miles). Commuters spend 19 minutes getting to work on average, where Iowa has 20 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The four measures behind Boone’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Boone is better than 65% of U.S. towns, #45 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Boone’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($69,222, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Boone could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Boone quiets down on a workday
On a workday 4,162 residents head out to work, 1,406 work right here, and 2,833 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Boone on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 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 people from Boone work
Where Boone clocks in
24% of workers
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.
What Boone’s employers do
4,239 jobs are based in Boone.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boone, 2013 → 2023: 4,863 → 4,239. 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 Boone’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Boone takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boone workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,210 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.
Miles to work from Boone
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.
Boone is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Boone is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #55 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.4% across Iowa.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,723 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). 6.9% of Boone households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Boone’s commuters take a bus or train.
Boone next to U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000: 1,122nd of 2,354 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 163 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 439 | Norwalk IA | 15,004 | $103K | 4.2% | 3.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 829 | Pella IA | 10,992 | $84K | 6.0% | 1.1% | 41% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,120 | Jackson Township PA | 9,301 | $89K | 4.5% | 7.2% | 6% | B |
| 1,121 | Sonterra TX | 10,563 | $92K | 10.4% | 4.5% | 2% | B |
| 1,122 | Boone IA | 12,471 | $69K | 8.3% | 2.0% | 25% | B |
| 1,123 | Fort Atkinson WI | 12,388 | $79K | 6.7% | 4.5% | 28% | B |
| 1,124 | Union Township IN | 9,193 | $76K | 4.9% | 4.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Boone, 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 Boone: questions
What is the median household income in Boone?
$69,222 (±$5,215) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boone?
8.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boone?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boone work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ames (24%, 13 mi), Des Moines (6%, 36 mi), West Des Moines (3%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boone walkable?
Boone is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boone without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Boone, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boone
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.