Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Carroll has lower unemployment (2.5%) than 77% of U.S. towns
About half stay in Carroll for work; outside it, Des Moines is the main destination (2%, 73 miles). Jobs and income earn Carroll B−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Working residents average 12 minutes each way, next to 20 for Iowa and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Carroll
The four measures behind Carroll’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carroll is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #71 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Carroll’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carroll could be anywhere from C to B+.
Time on the road from Carroll: about 12 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carroll workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,763 commuters (the 6% 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.
Carroll on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,629 residents head out to work, 2,183 work right here, and 3,750 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Carroll on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 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 Carroll goes to work
Where Carroll clocks in
2% of workers
2% 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 the 5,933 jobs in Carroll are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carroll, 2013 → 2023: 6,633 → 5,933. 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 Carroll’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Carroll’s commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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.
Carroll is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carroll is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #54 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 5,087 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). 5.6% of Carroll households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Carroll’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,636th of 2,878: where Carroll ranks among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 180 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 459 | Tiffin IA | 7,156 | $101K | 7.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 642 | Sioux Center IA | 8,864 | $93K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 50% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,634 | Broadview IL | 7,871 | $65K | 9.4% | 6.5% | 4% | B− |
| 1,635 | Forestbrook SC | 7,479 | $81K | 6.8% | 7.1% | 1% | B− |
| 1,636 | Carroll IA | 10,085 | $70K | 8.9% | 2.5% | 45% | B− |
| 1,637 | Flat Rock MI | 10,218 | $82K | 10.3% | 7.3% | 5% | B− |
| 1,638 | West Carrollton OH | 12,963 | $62K | 16.0% | 3.1% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Carroll, 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 Carroll: questions
What is the median household income in Carroll?
$69,706 (±$8,521) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carroll?
8.9%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carroll?
12 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carroll work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Des Moines (2%, 73 mi), Sioux City (2%, 83 mi), West Des Moines (2%, 66 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carroll walkable?
Carroll is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carroll without a car?
1% 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 Carroll, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carroll
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.