Photo: Bill Whittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Fort Dodge (6.0%) is higher than in 74% of U.S. towns
Fort Dodge grades C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.1 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 7.1 in Des Moines. About half work in Fort Dodge itself; outside it, Ames draws the most (2%, 44 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Fort Dodge
The figures behind Fort Dodge’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Dodge is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #124 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Fort Dodge’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.9%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Dodge could be anywhere from D to C+.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Fort Dodge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Dodge workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,914 commuters (the 4% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Fort Dodge
On a workday 4,775 residents head out to work, 4,906 work right here, and 7,774 people come in from elsewhere.
About 28,000 people are in Fort Dodge on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Fort Dodge goes to work
Where Fort Dodge clocks in
2% of workers
2% 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.
What Fort Dodge’s employers do
12,680 jobs are based in Fort Dodge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Dodge, 2014 → 2024: 13,593 → 12,680. 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 Fort Dodge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Fort Dodge works
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Fort Dodge is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Dodge is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #16 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% 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 11,422 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 91% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 74% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 70% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.6% of Fort Dodge households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Fort Dodge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 17,000 to 34,000, Fort Dodge ranks 1,513th of 1,688 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Grimes IA | 17,405 | $120K | 4.4% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 433 | Johnston IA | 25,065 | $107K | 10.2% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 448 | Clive IA | 19,861 | $132K | 7.3% | 4.0% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,511 | Moscow ID | 26,721 | $57K | 25.1% | 7.9% | 49% | C− |
| 1,512 | East Chicago IN | 25,610 | $42K | 26.3% | 7.7% | 16% | C− |
| 1,513 | Fort Dodge IA | 24,837 | $61K | 15.9% | 6.0% | 51% | C− |
| 1,514 | Chalmette LA | 22,616 | $55K | 24.9% | 9.0% | 15% | C− |
| 1,515 | Phelan CA | 18,496 | $80K | 12.7% | 12.9% | 9% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,688 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 35% | 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 Fort Dodge, 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 Fort Dodge: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Dodge?
$60,649 (±$6,463) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Dodge?
15.9%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Dodge?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Dodge work?
51% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ames (2%, 44 mi), Des Moines (2%, 71 mi), Humboldt (2%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fort Dodge walkable?
Fort Dodge is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Dodge without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 74% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Dodge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Dodge
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.