Charles J. Thompson House · Photo: Chuckmor · CC BY-SA 3.0At 2.7%, unemployment in Forest City is lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
About half work in Forest City itself; outside it, Mason City draws the most (6%, 23 miles). The two grades for Forest City are C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 12 minutes, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Forest City and work: the main findings
Forest City is where the jobs are
Forest City has 3,226 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Forest City makes and builds things
48% of the jobs based in Forest City are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Forest City residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 33%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Forest City are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 20 across Iowa. That’s about 61 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Forest City
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Forest City is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #86 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Forest City’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Forest City could be anywhere from D to B+.
The daily flow of workers through Forest City
On a workday 1,036 residents head out to work, 878 work right here, and 2,348 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,500 people are in Forest City on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Factories, building and farms: 48% of the jobs in Forest City
3,226 jobs are based in Forest City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forest City, 2014 → 2024: 4,228 → 3,226. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Forest City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 12 minutes in Forest City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forest City workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,013 commuters (the 6% 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.
Where Forest City’s workers come from
Where Forest City clocks in
6% of workers
6% of workers
3% 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.
The commute from Forest City, by distance
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Forest City is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Forest City is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #12 of 140 in Iowa. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,142 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). 10.2% of Forest City households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Forest City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Forest City is 2,450th of 4,112 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 235 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 313 | Windsor Heights IA | 5,059 | $92K | 6.2% | 1.4% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,448 | Iroquois Point HI | 5,158 | $110K | 14.9% | 12.7% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,449 | James City NC | 4,789 | $59K | 11.7% | 2.5% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,450 | Forest City IA | 4,143 | $69K | 12.4% | 2.7% | 46% | C+ |
| 2,451 | Lapeer Township MI | 4,996 | $70K | 9.9% | 5.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,452 | Mascot TN | 3,277 | $60K | 19.2% | 3.5% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Forest City, 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 2024, 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 Forest City: questions
What is the median household income in Forest City?
$69,205 (±$16,191) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forest City?
12.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forest City?
12 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forest City work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mason City (6%, 23 mi), Garner (6%, 11 mi), Lake Mills (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Forest City walkable?
Forest City is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Forest City without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Forest City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forest City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.