Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Glidden works elsewhere
Employers in Glidden report 214 jobs, against 528 working residents. Glidden grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Only 3% stay in Glidden for work; outside it, Carroll is the main destination (34%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Glidden, in brief
Glidden and Carroll trade workers both ways
Carroll is the top workplace for Glidden residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in Glidden come from (33% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Glidden than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Glidden fell from 324 in 2013 to 214 in 2023, −34%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 528 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Glidden: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Glidden is better than 26% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Glidden’s grade up (11.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.0%) is left out: Glidden’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Glidden could be anywhere from D to B.
The places Glidden commutes to
Where Glidden clocks in
34% of workers
3% 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.
The kinds of work in Glidden
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Glidden, 2013 → 2023: 324 → 214. 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 Glidden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Glidden by day
On a workday 512 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 198 people come in from elsewhere.
About 820 people are in Glidden on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
Time on the road from Glidden: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Glidden workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 503 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.
Where in the region Glidden works
About 27% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Glidden
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Glidden is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Glidden 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 540 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). 3.2% of Glidden households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Glidden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Glidden is 2,282nd of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Gilbert IA | 1,389 | $123K | 3.4% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,280 | Hermon NY | 1,094 | $70K | 9.2% | 13.7% | 5% | C |
| 2,281 | Markle IN | 1,086 | $56K | 16.7% | 2.8% | 4% | C |
| 2,282 | Glidden IA | 1,133 | $68K | 11.7% | 3.0% | 3% | C |
| 2,283 | Middletown VA | 1,471 | $60K | 14.6% | 1.1% | 2% | C |
| 2,284 | Mount Forest Township MI | 1,388 | $65K | 11.2% | 7.9% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Glidden, 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 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 Glidden: questions
What is the median household income in Glidden?
$68,333 (±$24,579) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Glidden?
11.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Glidden?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Glidden work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Carroll (34%, 7 mi), Scranton (3%, 10 mi), Omaha (2%, 88 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Glidden walkable?
Glidden is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Glidden without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Glidden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Glidden
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. 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.