Photo: PopePompus · CC BY-SA 4.0Houghton has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Hardly any work in Houghton; the top destination outside it is Fort Madison (20%, 18 miles). 27 jobs are based in Houghton, against 69 working residents. Working residents average 20 minutes each way, about the same as across Iowa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Houghton for work, and who comes in
On a workday 69 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 27 people come in from elsewhere.
About 84 people are in Houghton on a workday afternoon, 33% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where people from Houghton work
Where Houghton clocks in
20% of workers
9% of workers
9% 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.
Most jobs in Houghton are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Houghton, 2014 → 2024: 125 → 27. 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 Houghton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes each way for Houghton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Houghton workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 31 commuters (the 11% 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 distance from Houghton to work
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.
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 Houghton: questions
What is the median household income in Houghton?
$106,042 (±$18,111) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Houghton?
1.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Houghton?
20 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Houghton work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Madison (20%, 18 mi), West Point (9%, 10 mi), Mount Pleasant (9%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Houghton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Houghton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Houghton
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.