Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Defiance
The average commute takes 19 minutes each way (Iowa 20, U.S. 26). Only 4% stay in Defiance for work; outside it, Harlan is the main destination (20%, 12 miles). For 4% of workers, the job is at home, where Iowa as a whole has 11%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
A workday in Defiance: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 98 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 121 people come in from elsewhere.
About 270 people are in Defiance on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 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 Defiance commutes to
Where Defiance clocks in
20% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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 place that makes things: 40% of Defiance’s jobs are in goods
125 jobs are based in Defiance.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Defiance, 2013 → 2023: 68 → 125. 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 Defiance’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Defiance
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Defiance workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 144 commuters (the 4% 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.
Defiance’s commute, mile by mile
About 32% 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.
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 Defiance: questions
What is the median household income in Defiance?
$53,542 (±$14,672) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Defiance?
11.6%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Defiance?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Defiance work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harlan (20%, 12 mi), Elk Horn (9%, 22 mi), Omaha (6%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Defiance without a car?
0% 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 Defiance, from the people who make the trip.
More of Defiance
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.