Photo: David Morris · CC BY 2.0Households in Emmetsburg earn less than those in 80% of U.S. towns
About two in five work in Emmetsburg; the top destination outside it is Spencer (6%, 24 miles). Below the poverty line: 15.2% of residents (Iowa 11.1%). Jobs and income earn Emmetsburg C; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Emmetsburg apart on work
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Emmetsburg
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Emmetsburg is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #112 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Emmetsburg’s grade up (2.4%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Emmetsburg could be anywhere from D to B−.
The trip to work from Emmetsburg: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Emmetsburg workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,875 commuters (the 5% 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 daily commute in and out of Emmetsburg
On a workday 852 residents head out to work, 643 work right here, and 1,112 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 (1.17 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Emmetsburg’s working residents head each day
Where Emmetsburg clocks in
3% 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.
What Emmetsburg’s employers do
1,755 jobs are based in Emmetsburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Emmetsburg, 2014 → 2024: 2,043 → 1,755. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Emmetsburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Emmetsburg
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Emmetsburg is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Emmetsburg is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #6 of 140 in Iowa. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 8.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,973 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.9% of Emmetsburg households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Emmetsburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000, Emmetsburg ranks 3,096th of 4,318 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 150 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 244 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 345 | Fairfax IA | 2,925 | $114K | 6.2% | 1.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,094 | Lawrence Township MI | 3,294 | $64K | 19.5% | 4.0% | 11% | C |
| 3,095 | Moriah NY | 4,287 | $63K | 14.5% | 2.2% | 23% | C |
| 3,096 | Emmetsburg IA | 3,684 | $56K | 15.2% | 2.4% | 43% | C |
| 3,097 | Owego NY | 4,268 | $60K | 29.1% | 2.9% | 16% | C |
| 3,098 | New Tazewell TN | 2,846 | $54K | 12.5% | 3.2% | 19% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Emmetsburg, 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 2024, 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 Emmetsburg: questions
What is the median household income in Emmetsburg?
$55,833 (±$10,340) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Emmetsburg?
15.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Emmetsburg?
14 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Emmetsburg work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spencer (6%, 24 mi), Algona (3%, 23 mi), Estherville (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Emmetsburg walkable?
Emmetsburg is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Emmetsburg without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Emmetsburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Emmetsburg
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.