Wright County Courthouse · Photo: Ann Sullivan-Larson · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Clarion (2.3%) than in 80% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute lasts 13 minutes (Iowa 20, U.S. 26). Clarion grades C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. About two in five work in Clarion; the top destination outside it is Belmond (4%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Clarion in brief
Clarion’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clarion is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #85 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Clarion’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clarion could be anywhere from C− to B+.
About 13 minutes each way, quicker than most of Iowa
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarion workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,402 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.
Who commutes out of Clarion, and who commutes in
On a workday 661 residents head out to work, 415 work right here, and 1,172 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,300 people are in Clarion on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.47 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 Clarion goes to work
Where Clarion clocks in
Lines 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.
67% of the jobs in Clarion pay over $3,333 a month
1,587 jobs are based in Clarion.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarion, 2013 → 2023: 1,959 → 1,587. 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 Clarion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Clarion
About 21% 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.
In Clarion, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clarion is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #96 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 1,485 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). 3.4% of Clarion households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Clarion’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,711th of 4,969: where Clarion ranks among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,709 | Jenner Township PA | 3,570 | $59K | 13.6% | 1.6% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,710 | Atkins AR | 2,868 | $62K | 9.7% | 3.2% | 11% | C+ |
| 2,711 | Clarion IA | 2,758 | $65K | 10.5% | 2.3% | 39% | C+ |
| 2,712 | Hodgenville KY | 3,378 | $58K | 19.1% | 0.0% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,713 | Union Township IN | 1,948 | $78K | 9.7% | 6.9% | 9% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Clarion, 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 Clarion: questions
What is the median household income in Clarion?
$64,625 (±$8,432) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarion?
10.5%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarion?
13 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarion work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Belmond (4%, 10 mi), Eagle Grove (2%, 10 mi), Webster City (2%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clarion walkable?
Clarion is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clarion without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clarion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarion
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.