Photo: Jason McLaren · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Chariton (9.1%) is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 6% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access.
Walkability B+: more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns · #68 of 140 in Iowa.
Household incomes here are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 16 minutes each way (Iowa 20, U.S. 26). About one in three work in Chariton; the top destination outside it is Des Moines (8%, 41 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Chariton
Chariton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Chariton is Des Moines, 41 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (136) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
50% of the jobs in Chariton are in trade, transport and utilities, against 36% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Chariton pay little
28% of the jobs based in Chariton pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 32% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Chariton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chariton is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #140 of 140 in Iowa. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Chariton’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chariton could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Half of Chariton commutes less than 40 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 26% 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.
What the 2,524 jobs in Chariton are
2,524 jobs are based in Chariton. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Chariton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chariton, 2013 → 2023: 2,222 → 2,524. 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.
Chariton fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,256 residents head out to work, 557 work right here, and 1,967 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,100 people are in Chariton on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 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.
8% of working residents work in Des Moines
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Chariton clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 16 minutes each way, quicker than most of Iowa
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chariton workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,658 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Iowa: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Most trips from Chariton start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chariton is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #68 of 140 in Iowa. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,745 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). 12.5% of Chariton households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chariton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Chariton compares with U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,900
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Chariton, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 156 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 239 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 323 | Windsor Heights IA | 5,059 | $92K | 6.2% | 1.4% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,925 | Oneida TN | 3,899 | $49K | 28.1% | 5.3% | 19% | D |
| 3,926 | Colorado City TX | 3,884 | $53K | 16.6% | 9.3% | 28% | D |
| 3,927 | Chariton IA | 4,347 | $47K | 17.1% | 9.1% | 31% | D |
| 3,928 | Honesdale PA | 4,417 | $47K | 19.8% | 9.8% | 24% | D |
| 3,929 | Champion NY | 4,436 | $57K | 19.0% | 12.3% | 12% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,136 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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.
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 Chariton: questions
What is the median household income in Chariton?
$46,979 (±$11,523) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chariton?
17.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chariton?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chariton work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Des Moines (8%, 41 mi), West Des Moines (6%, 44 mi), Ankeny (4%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chariton walkable?
Chariton is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chariton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chariton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chariton
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.