Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Council Bluffs earn less than those in 67% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 15.1% of residents, next to 11.1% for Iowa as a whole. For jobs and income Council Bluffs is better than 48% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in three work in Council Bluffs itself; outside it, Omaha draws the most (30%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Council Bluffs
A lot of Council Bluffs workers cross into Nebraska
38% of Council Bluffs workers work outside Iowa, most of them in Nebraska, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Many of the people who work in Council Bluffs live in another state
Omaha, NE (18%), Bellevue, NE (3%) and Papillion, NE (1%) are among the top places Council Bluffs’ workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 22% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Council Bluffs and Omaha trade workers both ways
Omaha is the top workplace for Council Bluffs residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Council Bluffs come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
The four measures behind Council Bluffs’ grade
Job access by car holds Council Bluffs’ grade up (ahead of 84% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Council Bluffs could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Where the trip to work from Council Bluffs ends
Where Council Bluffs clocks in
30% of workers
1% 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 daily commute in and out of Council Bluffs
On a workday 18,423 residents head out to work, 10,897 work right here, and 19,822 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 (1.05 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Jobs in Council Bluffs: what the 30,719 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Council Bluffs, 2014 → 2024: 28,663 → 30,719. 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 Council Bluffs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Council Bluffs, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Council Bluffs workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 27,228 commuters (the 8% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Council Bluffs
About 17% 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.
Few in Council Bluffs walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 29,722 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 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% 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). 7.6% of Council Bluffs households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Council Bluffs’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Council Bluffs is 499th among 709 U.S. towns of 44,000 to 85,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Ankeny IA | 77,833 | $108K | 4.2% | 1.9% | 22% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 106 | Urbandale IA | 48,570 | $113K | 6.8% | 2.9% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | West Des Moines IA | 74,224 | $87K | 8.4% | 2.4% | 30% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 497 | Sherman TX | 52,417 | $59K | 12.7% | 2.6% | 28% | B− |
| 498 | Caldwell ID | 76,629 | $73K | 11.9% | 5.0% | 18% | B− |
| 499 | Council Bluffs IA | 62,680 | $65K | 15.1% | 4.2% | 37% | B− |
| 500 | Pasco WA | 82,848 | $86K | 12.6% | 5.3% | 24% | B− |
| 501 | Redford Township MI | 47,432 | $69K | 11.6% | 6.8% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 709 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 27% | 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 Council Bluffs, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Work next door: 32% of Council Bluffs’ workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Council Bluffs workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Council Bluffs | – | B− | B+ | 18 min | $64,578 |
| Carter Lake | 1% | B+ | B+ | 23 min | $85,349 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Omaha. Darker towns draw more of Council Bluffs’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Council Bluffs: questions
What is the median household income in Council Bluffs?
$64,578 (±$2,842) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Council Bluffs?
15.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Council Bluffs?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Council Bluffs work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Omaha (30%, 11 mi), Des Moines (1%, 118 mi), Bellevue (1%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Council Bluffs walkable?
Council Bluffs is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Council Bluffs without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Council Bluffs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Council Bluffs
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.