Work means Cedar Rapids for more than half of Fairfax’s working residents
Working from home is the commute for 21% of workers, next to 11% for Iowa as a whole. Fairfax grades A for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Measured by household income, Fairfax is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fairfax, in a few figures
More than half of Fairfax works in Cedar Rapids
739 working residents, 55%, have their main job in Cedar Rapids, 5.7 miles away across the town line. That’s 55 times as many as work in Fairfax itself. The commute map ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Fairfax’s working residents have a job less than 8 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 22 minutes, longer than the Iowa average of 20. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Fairfax works from home
21% of Fairfax workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. Time on the road ↓
Fairfax makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Fairfax are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Fairfax residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
Most Fairfax residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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.
Why Fairfax gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fairfax is better than 92% of U.S. towns, #9 of 140 in Iowa. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Fairfax’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fairfax could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
The places Fairfax commutes to
Where Fairfax clocks in
55% of workers
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.
How long Fairfax spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairfax workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,207 commuters (the 21% 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.
Goods, not services: 39% of the jobs in Fairfax
442 jobs are based in Fairfax.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairfax, 2013 → 2023: 279 → 442. 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 Fairfax’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Fairfax’s workers travel
About 16% 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.
Fairfax quiets down on a workday
On a workday 1,316 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 425 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Fairfax on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.
0.33 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.
Few in Fairfax walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fairfax is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns, #137 of 140 in Iowa. Both inputs place Fairfax near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,530 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 3.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 78% 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). 2.9% of Fairfax households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fairfax’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,882 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900, Fairfax comes 321st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 148 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 192 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 236 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 319 | Excelsior MN | 2,316 | $103K | 10.0% | 0.0% | 6% | A |
| 320 | Ravensworth VA | 2,475 | $166K | 0.6% | 5.9% | 2% | A |
| 321 | Fairfax IA | 2,925 | $114K | 6.2% | 1.8% | 1% | A |
| 322 | Munsey Park NY | 2,787 | $250K | 2.0% | 6.2% | 2% | A |
| 323 | West Nantmeal Township PA | 2,276 | $126K | 4.7% | 2.9% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Fairfax, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Fairfax and its neighbors: 55% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fairfax workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfax | – | A | C− | 22 min | $114,375 |
| Cedar Rapids | 55% | B | A− | 19 min | $70,424 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Cedar Rapids. Darker towns draw more of Fairfax’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Fairfax: questions
What is the median household income in Fairfax?
$114,375 (±$23,877) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairfax?
6.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairfax?
22 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairfax work?
1% work in town.
Is Fairfax walkable?
Fairfax is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairfax without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairfax, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairfax
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.