Photo: Bill Whittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Fairfield (11.8%) is higher than in 97% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Fairfield is behind 86% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Fairfield is better than 7% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (A). Home is the office for 25% of workers, against 11% across Iowa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Fairfield in brief
A lot of Fairfield works from home
25% of Fairfield workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Fairfield are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 20 across Iowa. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Iowa worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Where Fairfield’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Fairfield’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fairfield could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Getting to work from Fairfield takes about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairfield workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,967 commuters (the 25% 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.
Who commutes out of Fairfield, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,823 residents head out to work, 1,858 work right here, and 3,189 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Fairfield on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 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.
Where Fairfield goes to work
Where Fairfield clocks in
2% 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.
Inside Fairfield’s 5,047 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairfield, 2013 → 2023: 5,115 → 5,047. 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 Fairfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Fairfield, by distance
About 25% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Fairfield
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,957 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). 10.9% of Fairfield households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fairfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Fairfield sits among U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 185 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 452 | Tiffin IA | 7,156 | $101K | 7.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,720 | Philadelphia MS | 6,858 | $51K | 25.6% | 8.0% | 28% | D |
| 2,721 | West Frankfort IL | 7,105 | $48K | 29.0% | 15.2% | 14% | D |
| 2,722 | Fairfield IA | 9,220 | $51K | 20.7% | 11.8% | 50% | D |
| 2,723 | Pease Township OH | 12,375 | $51K | 23.2% | 9.7% | 15% | D |
| 2,724 | Arcadia FL | 8,046 | $40K | 31.8% | 5.7% | 19% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,810 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Fairfield, 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 Fairfield: questions
What is the median household income in Fairfield?
$51,311 (±$10,729) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairfield?
20.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairfield?
13 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairfield work?
50% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ottumwa (3%, 24 mi), Des Moines (3%, 94 mi), Mount Pleasant (2%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fairfield walkable?
Fairfield is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairfield
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.