Central City Commercial Historic District · Photo: ArtisticAbode · CC BY-SA 3.0Central City has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Working from home is the commute for 20% of workers, next to 11% for Iowa as a whole. There are 217 jobs in Central City; 567 of its residents have a job. Central City grades A− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Central City in brief
41% of Central City works in Cedar Rapids
230 working residents, 41%, have their main job in Cedar Rapids, 18 miles away. That’s 8 times as many as work in Central City itself. The commute map ↓
Central City workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 28 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 215 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Central City works from home
20% of Central City workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 567 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Central City
On income, poverty and job access, Central City is better than 76% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input (3.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 51% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Central City’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Central City could be anywhere from B to A.
41% of working residents work in Cedar Rapids
Where Central City clocks in
41% of workers
9% 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.
Time on the road from Central City: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Central City workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 539 commuters (the 20% 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.
Central City quiets down on a workday
On a workday 537 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 187 people come in from elsewhere.
About 900 people are in Central City on a workday afternoon, 28% 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 2024, primary jobs.
In Central City, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Central City, 2014 → 2024: 283 → 217. 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 Central City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Central City commutes less than 17 miles
About 15% 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.
Getting around Central City: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Central City is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 673 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.6% of Central City households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Central City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Central City ranks: 611th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Slater IA | 1,617 | $98K | 3.8% | 1.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 609 | Green Valley CA | 1,364 | $142K | 9.2% | 2.9% | <1% | A− |
| 610 | Robie Creek ID | 1,213 | $106K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 2% | A− |
| 611 | Central City IA | 1,253 | $85K | 3.9% | 4.1% | 5% | A− |
| 612 | Prospect PA | 1,086 | $88K | 5.8% | 5.1% | 1% | A− |
| 613 | Florence Township MN | 1,562 | $109K | 2.4% | 4.0% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Central City, 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 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 Central City: questions
What is the median household income in Central City?
$85,400 (±$10,399) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Central City?
3.9%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Central City?
28 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Central City work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedar Rapids (41%, 18 mi), Marion (9%, 11 mi), Alburnett (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Central City walkable?
Central City is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Central City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Central City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Central City
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. 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.