Photo: Billwhittaker · Public domainHousehold incomes in Fort Madison are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns
15.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.1% across Iowa. The two grades for Fort Madison are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in three work in Fort Madison; the top destination outside it is Burlington (9%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Fort Madison’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Madison is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #131 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Fort Madison’s grade up (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($50,705, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Madison could be anywhere from D to C.
A workday in Fort Madison: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,632 residents head out to work, 1,504 work right here, and 3,682 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Fort Madison on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 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 people from Fort Madison work
Where Fort Madison clocks in
9% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
32% of the jobs in Fort Madison make or build things
5,186 jobs are based in Fort Madison.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Madison, 2014 → 2024: 5,436 → 5,186. 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 Madison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Fort Madison
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Madison workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,993 commuters (the 7% 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 far it is to work from Fort Madison
About 25% 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.
Few in Fort Madison walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Madison is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #63 of 140 in Iowa. Both inputs place Fort Madison near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,277 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). 6.5% of Fort Madison households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fort Madison’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fort Madison next to U.S. towns of 7,000 to 13,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 436 | Tiffin IA | 7,156 | $101K | 7.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 607 | Sioux Center IA | 8,864 | $93K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 49% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,475 | Escanaba MI | 12,257 | $45K | 17.7% | 5.2% | 48% | D |
| 2,476 | Independence Township MO | 11,792 | $56K | 18.4% | 5.3% | 35% | D |
| 2,477 | Fort Madison IA | 9,935 | $51K | 15.0% | 7.3% | 36% | D |
| 2,478 | Little Falls MN | 9,277 | $48K | 18.7% | 6.1% | 37% | D |
| 2,479 | Cadillac MI | 10,438 | $52K | 18.2% | 5.9% | 39% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,722 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Madison, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Work in the towns next to Fort Madison
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Madison workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Madison | – | D | B+ | 23 min | $50,705 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Madison’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Madison: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Madison?
$50,705 (±$5,175) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Madison?
15.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Madison?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Madison work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Burlington (9%, 17 mi), West Burlington (6%, 16 mi), Keokuk (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fort Madison walkable?
Fort Madison is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Madison without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Madison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Madison
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.