Photo: ArtisticAbode · CC BY-SA 3.0Work, pay and getting to work in Cedar Rapids
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 7.1 in Des Moines. Jobs and income earn Cedar Rapids B; getting around on foot earns it A−. More than half work in Cedar Rapids itself; outside it, Marion draws the most (5%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cedar Rapids, in a few figures
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Cedar Rapids
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cedar Rapids is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #53 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Cedar Rapids’ grade up (ahead of 78% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($70,424, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cedar Rapids could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Cedar Rapids on a workday afternoon
On a workday 26,329 residents head out to work, 35,360 work right here, and 58,738 people come in from elsewhere.
About 170,000 people are in Cedar Rapids on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
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 the people who work in Cedar Rapids live
Where Cedar Rapids clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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 Cedar Rapids
94,098 jobs are based in Cedar Rapids.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cedar Rapids, 2013 → 2023: 97,241 → 94,098. 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 Cedar Rapids’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Cedar Rapids spends getting to work: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cedar Rapids workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 63,313 commuters (the 13% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Cedar Rapids
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.
Cedar Rapids 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, Cedar Rapids is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #19 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% 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 72,682 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 81% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 44% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.7% of Cedar Rapids households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Cedar Rapids’ commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Ranked on jobs and income, Cedar Rapids is 130th among 261 U.S. towns of 97,000 to 186,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 2 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Fishers IN | 104,812 | $130K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Brandon FL | 119,767 | $80K | 11.4% | 4.6% | 11% | B |
| 129 | Sunrise FL | 98,846 | $78K | 10.7% | 5.4% | 14% | B |
| 130 | Cedar Rapids IA | 137,935 | $70K | 10.8% | 3.6% | 57% | B |
| 131 | Santa Rosa CA | 179,437 | $99K | 9.7% | 6.3% | 35% | B |
| 132 | College Station TX | 127,472 | $51K | 29.2% | 5.1% | 35% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Davenport IA | 100,358 | $66K | 15.2% | 4.6% | 47% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 261 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Cedar Rapids, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Cedar Rapids and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cedar Rapids workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Rapids | – | B | A− | 19 min | $70,424 |
| Marion | 5% | B+ | B+ | 19 min | $86,743 |
| Hiawatha | 4% | B− | B | 16 min | $66,270 |
| Robins | under 2% | B | B | 16 min | $122,262 |
| Fairfax | under 2% | A | C− | 22 min | $114,375 |
| Bertram | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bertram: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Marion. Darker towns draw more of Cedar Rapids’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Cedar Rapids: questions
What is the median household income in Cedar Rapids?
$70,424 (±$2,281) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cedar Rapids?
10.8%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cedar Rapids?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cedar Rapids work?
57% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marion (5%, 7 mi), Hiawatha (4%, 6 mi), Iowa City (4%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cedar Rapids walkable?
Cedar Rapids is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cedar Rapids without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 44% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cedar Rapids, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cedar Rapids
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.