Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Farley are higher than in 75% of U.S. towns
3.6% of residents live below the poverty line; Iowa has 11.1%. Jobs and income earn Farley A−; getting around on foot earns it C. About one in seven stay in Farley for work; outside it, Dubuque is the main destination (31%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Farley, in brief
31% of Farley works in Dubuque
280 working residents, 31%, have their main job in Dubuque, 16 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Farley itself. The commute map ↓
Farley makes and builds things
51% of the jobs based in Farley are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Farley residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. 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 908 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Farley gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Farley is better than 79% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Farley’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (4.9%) is left out: Farley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Farley could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Where people from Farley work
Where Farley clocks in
31% of workers
6% 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.
In Farley, 51% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
1,173 jobs are based in Farley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Farley, 2013 → 2023: 1,156 → 1,173. 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 Farley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Farley, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 790 residents head out to work, 118 work right here, and 1,055 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Farley on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.29 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.
About 23 minutes each way for Farley’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Farley workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 853 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.
Miles to work from Farley
About 18% 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.
Few in Farley walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Farley is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.4% across Iowa.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 921 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). 2.3% of Farley households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Farley’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Farley ranks: 716th of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 201 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 714 | Greenbush WI | 2,235 | $87K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A− |
| 715 | Knightsen CA | 2,264 | $177K | 3.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A− |
| 716 | Farley IA | 1,718 | $97K | 3.6% | 4.9% | 13% | A− |
| 717 | Lakesite TN | 1,980 | $96K | 4.2% | 3.5% | 1% | A− |
| 718 | Scotland CT | 1,591 | $100K | 4.8% | 2.8% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Farley, 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 Farley: questions
What is the median household income in Farley?
$97,143 (±$10,709) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Farley?
3.6%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Farley?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Farley work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dubuque (31%, 16 mi), Dyersville (6%, 6 mi), Epworth (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Farley walkable?
Farley is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Farley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Farley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Farley
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.