Photo: Billwhittaker · Public domainWith 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Clarksville works elsewhere
Home is the office for 2% of workers (Iowa 11%). Clarksville has 282 jobs, against 560 working residents. The two grades for Clarksville are C for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Clarksville and work: the main findings
Clarksville workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 26 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 199 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Clarksville workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; with 560 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Clarksville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Clarksville is better than 30% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Clarksville’s grade up (9.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: Clarksville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Clarksville could be anywhere from D to B−.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Clarksville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarksville workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 611 commuters (the 2% 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.
Clarksville on a workday afternoon
On a workday 519 residents head out to work, 41 work right here, and 241 people come in from elsewhere.
About 950 people are in Clarksville on a workday afternoon, 23% 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 2023, primary jobs.
18% of working residents work in Waverly
Where Clarksville clocks in
18% of workers
10% of workers
7% 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 Clarksville
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarksville, 2013 → 2023: 254 → 282. 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 Clarksville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Clarksville commutes
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 Clarksville, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clarksville is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Clarksville near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 622 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). 2.3% of Clarksville households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Clarksville’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,733rd of 4,866: where Clarksville ranks among 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% | 1% | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 2,731 | Bonner-West Riverside MT | 1,563 | $62K | 14.5% | 0.0% | 4% | C |
| 2,732 | Skyline Acres OH | 1,016 | $46K | 19.2% | 0.6% | 1% | C |
| 2,733 | Clarksville IA | 1,225 | $63K | 9.1% | 2.3% | 7% | C |
| 2,734 | Wood River NE | 1,169 | $75K | 15.6% | 0.4% | 8% | C |
| 2,735 | Eagle Township IL | 1,437 | $54K | 7.3% | 3.3% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Clarksville, 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 Clarksville: questions
What is the median household income in Clarksville?
$62,917 (±$18,502) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarksville?
9.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarksville?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarksville work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waverly (18%, 11 mi), Waterloo (10%, 26 mi), Cedar Falls (7%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clarksville walkable?
Clarksville is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clarksville without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clarksville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarksville
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.