College Hall · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Fayette’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Without college students, the poverty rate is 11.1% (Iowa 9.9%). For jobs and income Fayette is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in seven stay in Fayette for work; outside it, West Union is the main destination (9%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Fayette
Many jobs in Fayette pay little
35% of the jobs based in Fayette pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 36% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Fayette
59% of Fayette residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 38% of the jobs based in Fayette pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 87% leave town for their job. 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 454 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Fayette’s Jobs & income grade comes from
The poverty rate holds Fayette’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($47,917, U.S. $80,734).
39% of Fayette’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (21% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 11.1%, against 25.7% for all residents. Unemployment (5.4%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Household income is not adjusted: student households count in the median.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Fayette could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
532 jobs are based in Fayette.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fayette, 2013 → 2023: 616 → 532. 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 Fayette’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Fayette commutes
About 31% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Fayette
On a workday 396 residents head out to work, 58 work right here, and 474 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Fayette ends
Where Fayette clocks in
9% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Time on the road from Fayette: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fayette workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 651 commuters (the 8% 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.
Driving is how Fayette gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 710 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). 2.4% of Fayette households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fayette’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fayette is 3,303rd of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 185 | Gilbert IA | 1,389 | $123K | 3.4% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,301 | Chelsea VT | 1,252 | $66K | 14.3% | 1.0% | 8% | D |
| 3,302 | Meenon WI | 1,251 | $63K | 13.3% | 6.4% | 7% | D |
| 3,303 | Fayette IA | 1,185 | $48K | 25.7% | 5.4% | 13% | D |
| 3,304 | Port Byron NY | 1,215 | $49K | 24.6% | 5.0% | 4% | D |
| 3,305 | Frazeysburg OH | 1,356 | $51K | 16.3% | 4.6% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Fayette, 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.
- Students. 39% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Fayette: questions
What is the median household income in Fayette?
$47,917 (±$15,829) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fayette?
25.7% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 11.1%. Iowa: 11.1%.
How long is the commute from Fayette?
15 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fayette work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Union (9%, 8 mi), Oelwein (6%, 13 mi), Waterloo (6%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fayette walkable?
Fayette is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fayette without a car?
1% 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 Fayette, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fayette
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.