Photo: Vycl1994 · CC BY-SA 3.0At 2.3%, unemployment in Hull is lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Hull itself; outside it, Sioux Center draws the most (31%, 8 miles). The two grades for Hull are B for jobs and income and B for walkability. For 5% of workers, the job is at home, against 11% across Iowa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Hull stands out on work
Hull and Sioux Center trade workers both ways
Sioux Center is the top workplace for Hull residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Hull come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Hull are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 20 across Iowa. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Iowa worker. Time on the road ↓
Hull makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Hull are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Hull residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 33%. 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.
What’s behind Hull’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hull is better than 64% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Hull’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hull could be anywhere from C to A.
The places Hull commutes to
Where Hull clocks in
31% 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 daily trip from Hull: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hull workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,185 commuters (the 5% 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.
Goods, not services: 35% of the jobs in Hull
971 jobs are based in Hull.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hull, 2013 → 2023: 924 → 971. 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 Hull’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Hull: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,063 residents head out to work, 167 work right here, and 804 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Hull on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.79 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Half of Hull commutes less than 9 miles
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.
Hull is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hull is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,250 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). 3.5% of Hull households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Hull’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Hull is 1,560th of 5,207 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 222 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,558 | Germantown NY | 1,890 | $98K | 6.8% | 4.6% | 13% | B |
| 1,559 | Dellona WI | 1,912 | $103K | 8.9% | 2.9% | 1% | B |
| 1,560 | Hull IA | 2,457 | $72K | 5.5% | 2.3% | 14% | B |
| 1,561 | White Salmon WA | 2,655 | $73K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 13% | B |
| 1,562 | Marysville Township MN | 2,083 | $98K | 16.8% | 2.4% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Hull, 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 Hull: questions
What is the median household income in Hull?
$72,344 (±$22,385) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hull?
5.5%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hull?
14 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hull work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sioux Center (31%, 8 mi), Rock Valley (7%, 8 mi), Orange City (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hull walkable?
Hull is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hull without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hull, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hull
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.