Beers and St. John Company Coach Inn · Photo: Boscophotos · CC BY-SA 3.0Downey has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
Downey has 7 jobs, against 52 working residents. Hardly any stay in Downey for work; outside it, Iowa City is the main destination (35%, 10 miles). Home is the office for 27% of workers, next to 11% for Iowa as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Downey quiets down on a workday
On a workday 52 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 7 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14 people are in Downey on a workday afternoon, 76% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Downey goes to work
Where Downey 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.
The kinds of work in Downey
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Downey, 2013 → 2023: 9 → 7. 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 Downey’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Downey
of Downey workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 30 commuters (the 27% 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 many miles Downey commutes
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 Downey: questions
What is the poverty rate in Downey?
0.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Downey work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Iowa City (35%, 10 mi), Tipton (10%, 16 mi), Cedar Rapids (8%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Downey without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Downey, from the people who make the trip.
More of Downey
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.