Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC BY 4.0Jobs and the daily commute in Edgewood
Edgewood has 532 jobs, against 425 working residents. Only 6% work in Edgewood itself; outside it, Manchester draws the most (25%, 11 miles). Commuters spend 15 minutes getting to work on average, next to 20 for Iowa and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Edgewood and work: the main findings
Edgewood makes and builds things
41% of the jobs based in Edgewood are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Edgewood residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Edgewood
63% of Edgewood residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 44% of the jobs based in Edgewood pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 94% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Edgewood has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Edgewood went from 393 in 2013 to 532 in 2023, +35%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 425 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Edgewood works in goods: 41% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Edgewood, 2013 → 2023: 393 → 532. 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 Edgewood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Edgewood by day and by night
On a workday 400 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 507 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Edgewood on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 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.
Commuting out of Edgewood: the destinations
Where Edgewood clocks in
25% of workers
11% 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.
About 15 minutes to work from Edgewood
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Edgewood workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 260 commuters (the 11% 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 Edgewood commutes
About 22% 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 Edgewood: questions
What is the median household income in Edgewood?
$61,625 (±$11,637) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Edgewood?
8.6%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Edgewood?
15 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Edgewood work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Manchester (25%, 11 mi), Cedar Rapids (11%, 49 mi), Strawberry Point (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Edgewood without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Edgewood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Edgewood
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.