Photo: Bill Whittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0Fertile has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Hardly any stay in Fertile for work; outside it, Mason City is the main destination (17%, 14 miles). Employers in Fertile report 28 jobs; 143 of its residents have a job. A typical one-way commute from Fertile lasts 27 minutes (Iowa 20, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Fertile for work, and who comes in
On a workday 142 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 27 people come in from elsewhere.
About 190 people are in Fertile on a workday afternoon, 38% 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.
Out of Fertile to work: where people go
Where Fertile clocks in
17% of workers
9% of workers
9% 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.
Fertile works in goods: 61% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fertile, 2013 → 2023: 53 → 28. 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 Fertile’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Fertile
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fertile workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 106 commuters (the 12% 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.
How many miles Fertile commutes
About 24% 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 Fertile: questions
What is the median household income in Fertile?
$65,000 (±$15,871) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fertile?
7.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fertile?
27 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fertile work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mason City (17%, 14 mi), Lake Mills (9%, 12 mi), Forest City (9%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Fertile 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 Fertile, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fertile
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.