Ferguson has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.0 for each
Employers in Ferguson report 1 jobs for 48 working residents. Hardly any work in Ferguson itself; outside it, Marshalltown draws the most (33%, 7 miles). Home is the office for 0% of workers (Iowa 11%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Ferguson by day
On a workday 48 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 1 people come in from elsewhere.
About 50 people are in Ferguson on a workday afternoon, 48% fewer than live here.
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 Ferguson goes to work
Where Ferguson clocks in
33% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ferguson, 2013 → 2023: 8 → 1. 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 Ferguson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes to work from Ferguson
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ferguson workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 29 commuters (the 0% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Ferguson
About 19% 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.
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 Ferguson: questions
What is the median household income in Ferguson?
$52,500 (±$14,169) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ferguson?
11.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ferguson?
29 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ferguson work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marshalltown (33%, 7 mi), Gilman (6%, 6 mi), Le Grand (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Ferguson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ferguson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ferguson
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.