Photo: Ashton B Crew · CC BY 3.0Most of Cambridge commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Working residents average 24 minutes each way; Iowa averages 20, the U.S. 26. Cambridge has 133 jobs, and 439 of its residents work somewhere. Only 2% work in Cambridge itself; outside it, Ames draws the most (25%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cambridge, in a few figures
Who leaves Cambridge for work, and who comes in
On a workday 431 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 125 people come in from elsewhere.
About 520 people are in Cambridge on a workday afternoon, 37% 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 Cambridge’s working residents head each day
Where Cambridge clocks in
25% of workers
10% 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.
Goods jobs make up 41% of work in Cambridge
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cambridge, 2013 → 2023: 96 → 133. 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 Cambridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 24 minutes from Cambridge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cambridge workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 359 commuters (the 7% 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.
Cambridge’s commute, mile by mile
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 Cambridge: questions
What is the median household income in Cambridge?
$57,333 (±$31,900) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cambridge?
11.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cambridge?
24 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cambridge work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ames (25%, 10 mi), Des Moines (14%, 23 mi), Ankeny (10%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Cambridge without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cambridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cambridge
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.