Photo: RedRaider1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Corning earn less than those in 66% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 12.4% of residents (Iowa 11.1%). The two grades for Corning are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in three work in Corning; the top destination outside it is Creston (8%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Corning
Where Corning’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Corning is better than 17% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Corning’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down.
Unemployment (6.0%) is left out: Corning’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, Corning could be anywhere from D to C+.
Miles to work from Corning
About 33% 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.
Who leaves Corning for work, and who comes in
On a workday 457 residents head out to work, 204 work right here, and 471 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.02 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.
The places Corning commutes to
Where Corning clocks in
8% of workers
5% 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.
Most jobs in Corning are in services
675 jobs are based in Corning.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Corning, 2013 → 2023: 671 → 675. 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 Corning’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Corning: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Corning workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 627 commuters (the 9% 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.
Corning is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 687 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). 9.1% of Corning households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Corning’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,936th of 5,397: where Corning ranks among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,934 | Caldwell Township MI | 1,423 | $54K | 9.0% | 5.8% | 4% | C− |
| 3,935 | Henrietta Township MN | 1,595 | $73K | 15.3% | 4.2% | 2% | C− |
| 3,936 | Corning IA | 1,511 | $65K | 12.4% | 6.0% | 31% | C− |
| 3,937 | Sublette KS | 1,343 | $66K | 13.2% | 3.7% | 16% | C− |
| 3,938 | Platte SD | 1,230 | $73K | 14.7% | 1.0% | 37% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Corning, 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 Corning: questions
What is the median household income in Corning?
$64,773 (±$17,071) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Corning?
12.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Corning?
17 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Corning work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Creston (8%, 20 mi), Lenox (5%, 12 mi), Des Moines (5%, 71 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Corning walkable?
Corning is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Corning without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Corning, from the people who make the trip.
More of Corning
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.