Photo: Kepper66 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Davenport are lower than in 64% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 15.2% of residents, against 11.1% across Iowa. The two grades for Davenport are B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About half work in Davenport itself; outside it, Bettendorf draws the most (9%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Davenport apart
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Davenport
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Davenport is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #81 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Davenport’s grade up (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Davenport could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
Where Davenport’s working residents head each day
Where Davenport clocks in
9% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
A workday in Davenport: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 23,344 residents head out to work, 19,892 work right here, and 37,976 people come in from elsewhere.
About 115,000 people are in Davenport on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 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.
Inside Davenport’s 57,868 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Davenport, 2014 → 2024: 59,773 → 57,868. 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 Davenport’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 19 minutes each way for Davenport’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Davenport workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 45,338 commuters (the 10% 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.
How far Davenport’s workers travel
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Davenport
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Davenport is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #48 of 140 in Iowa. Both inputs place Davenport 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 50,544 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). 9.0% of Davenport households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Davenport’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Davenport is 307th of 427 U.S. towns of 70,000 to 135,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Ankeny IA | 77,833 | $108K | 4.2% | 1.9% | 22% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | West Des Moines IA | 74,224 | $87K | 8.4% | 2.4% | 30% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 184 | Iowa City IA | 76,229 | $59K | 26.3% | 4.6% | 57% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 305 | Provo UT | 114,527 | $64K | 23.0% | 5.1% | 29% | B− |
| 306 | Rock Hill SC | 75,911 | $69K | 12.6% | 5.8% | 29% | B− |
| 307 | Davenport IA | 100,358 | $66K | 15.2% | 4.6% | 46% | B− |
| 308 | Asheville NC | 93,523 | $71K | 14.3% | 5.1% | 51% | B− |
| 309 | Compton CA | 90,500 | $78K | 17.9% | 8.0% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 427 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Davenport, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Work next door: 11% of Davenport’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Davenport workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davenport | – | B− | A− | 19 min | $66,200 |
| Bettendorf | 9% | A | B− | 20 min | $100,495 |
| Eldridge | 2% | A+ | C+ | 19 min | $106,316 |
| Buffalo | under 2% | C+ | C− | 29 min | $69,728 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Bettendorf. Darker towns draw more of Davenport’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 Davenport: questions
What is the median household income in Davenport?
$66,200 (±$1,883) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Davenport?
15.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Davenport?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Davenport work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bettendorf (9%, 7 mi), Rock Island (5%, 6 mi), Moline (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Davenport walkable?
Davenport is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Davenport without a car?
1% 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 Davenport, from the people who make the trip.
More of Davenport
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.