Photo: ArtisticAbode · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Ely (1.5%) is lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Ely is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Ely is better than 96% of U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (C−). Hardly any work in Ely itself; outside it, Cedar Rapids draws the most (56%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Ely apart on work
More than half of Ely works in Cedar Rapids
609 working residents, 56%, have their main job in Cedar Rapids, 7.4 miles away. That’s 56 times as many as work in Ely itself. The commute map ↓
Ely is a place people come home to
There are 279 jobs based in Ely, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Ely has about 1,600 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Ely
The poverty rate is its strongest input (2.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ely could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Where people from Ely work
Where Ely clocks in
56% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Ely
On a workday 1,075 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 272 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Ely on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.
0.26 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods jobs make up 57% of work in Ely
279 jobs are based in Ely.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ely, 2013 → 2023: 157 → 279. 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 Ely’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Ely, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ely workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,113 commuters (the 7% 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.
Half of Ely commutes less than 10 miles
About 15% 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.
Driving is how Ely gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,198 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.5% of Ely households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Ely’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ely ranks: 170th of 4,995 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 141 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | West Point WI | 2,066 | $140K | 2.2% | 1.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 169 | Choctaw Lake OH | 1,985 | $142K | 5.5% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| 170 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| 171 | University Park MD | 2,440 | $208K | 2.1% | 4.5% | <1% | A+ |
| 172 | Riverton NJ | 2,842 | $121K | 1.4% | 4.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 292 | Fairfax IA | 2,925 | $114K | 6.2% | 1.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Ely, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
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 Ely: questions
What is the median household income in Ely?
$105,882 (±$21,935) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ely?
2.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ely?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ely work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedar Rapids (56%, 7 mi), Iowa City (5%, 16 mi), Hiawatha (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ely walkable?
Ely is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ely without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ely, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ely
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. 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.