Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs and the daily commute in Diagonal
A typical one-way commute lasts 17 minutes, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. About one in ten work in Diagonal itself; outside it, Mount Ayr draws the most (10%, 9 miles). Diagonal has 162 jobs; 134 of its residents have a job.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Diagonal on a workday afternoon
On a workday 122 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 150 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 (1.21 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.
Out of Diagonal to work: where people go
Where Diagonal clocks in
10% of workers
8% 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.
In Diagonal, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Diagonal, 2013 → 2023: 253 → 162. 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 Diagonal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Diagonal spends getting to work: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Diagonal workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 160 commuters (the 17% 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.
The commute from Diagonal, by distance
About 43% 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 Diagonal: questions
What is the median household income in Diagonal?
$74,375 (±$21,387) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Diagonal?
7.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Diagonal?
17 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Diagonal work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Ayr (10%, 9 mi), Creston (8%, 17 mi), Des Moines (7%, 65 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Diagonal without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Diagonal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Diagonal
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.