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Hastings, IAPhoto: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded–Not graded
Jobs & commute in Hastings

Hastings has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each

Working residents average 33 minutes each way, next to 20 for Iowa and 26 for the U.S. Hastings has 6 jobs, against 54 working residents. Hardly any work in Hastings; the top destination outside it is Omaha (15%, 33 miles).

Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made

Day and night

How many people are in Hastings by day

On a workday 54 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 6 people come in from elsewhere.

54live here, work elsewhere
0live and work here
6work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night160
Workday110
160live here− 54head out to work+ 6come in to work= 110on a workday

About 110 people are in Hastings on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.11jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.

The commute map

Where people from Hastings work

HastingsCarson: 1 residents work here (2%)HamburgMalvern: 3 residents work here (6%)Glenwood: 7 residents work here (13%)Shenandoah: 3 residents work here (6%)Red Oak: 5 residents work here (9%)Council Bluffs: 4 residents work here (7%)Des Moines: 2 residents work here (4%)Sioux City: 2 residents work here (4%)La Vista: 2 residents work here (4%)Omaha: 8 residents work here (15%)OmahaGlenwoodRed OakCouncil BluffsMalvernShenandoahHastings
1
Omaha, NE33.4 mi away
15%8
2
Glenwood12.9 mi away
13%7
3
Red Oak14.1 mi away
9%5
4
Council Bluffs23.7 mi away
7%4
5
Malvern4.9 mi away
6%3
6
Shenandoah19.5 mi away
6%3
7
Des Moines104.9 mi away
4%2
8
Sioux City111.6 mi away
4%2
9
La Vista, NE31.7 mi away
4%2
10
Carson15.1 mi away
2%1
Everywhere elseother towns and states
31%17
The top trips

Where Hastings clocks in

Lines 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 jobs

Mostly health care, schools and offices in Hastings

Jobs based in HastingsJobs Hastings residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms0%19%
Trade, transport & utilities0%17%
Services: health, schools, offices100%65%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less33%11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month33%11%
Over $3,333 a month33%78%

Who does it

29 or younger50%19%
30 to 5450%56%
55 and older0%26%
+50%

Jobs based in Hastings, 2014 → 2024: 4 → 6. 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 Hastings’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Time on the road

About 33 minutes to work from Hastings

A year of commuting
254 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Hastings33 min
Iowa20 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
6%

of Hastings workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
How Hastings gets to work
88%Drive alone
12%Carpool

Share of the 81 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.

How far

Where in the region Hastings works

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miOmaha: 15% · 33.4 miGlenwood: 13% · 12.9 miRed Oak: 9% · 14.1 miCouncil Bluffs: 7% · 23.7 miMalvern: 6% · 4.9 miShenandoah: 6% · 19.5 miDes Moines: 4% · 104.9 miSioux City: 4% · 111.6 miLa Vista: 4% · 31.7 miCarson: 2% · 15.1 miOmaha 15%Glenwood 13%Red Oak 9%Council Bluffs 7%Malvern 6%Hastings
HastingsTop destinations (size = commuters)
8%Under 10 mi4 residents
43%10–24 mi23 residents
32%25–50 mi17 residents
17%Over 50 mi9 residents

About 17% 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.

How to read these numbers

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.

How these figures and grades are made →

Jobs and commuting in Hastings: questions

What is the median household income in Hastings?

$84,375 (±$6,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.

What is the poverty rate in Hastings?

9.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).

How long is the commute from Hastings?

33 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.

Where do people who live in Hastings work?

0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Omaha (15%, 33 mi), Glenwood (13%, 13 mi), Red Oak (9%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).

Can you get around Hastings without a car?

0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Hastings, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Ask neighbors
Beyond the commute

More of Hastings

Hastings home →

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.