Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Iowa Falls (9.1%) is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
About one in three work in Iowa Falls; the top destination outside it is Waterloo (4%, 47 miles). For jobs and income Iowa Falls is better than 12% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (A−). Measured by household income, Iowa Falls is behind 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Iowa Falls at work: what stands out
Commutes from Iowa Falls are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 20 across Iowa State. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Iowa State worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, 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 Iowa Falls’ Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Iowa Falls’ grade up (10.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Iowa Falls could be anywhere from D to C.
Iowa Falls’ commute takes about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Iowa Falls workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa State. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,000 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Iowa State: 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 commute from Iowa Falls, by distance
About 31% 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.
Who commutes out of Iowa Falls, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,357 residents head out to work, 806 work right here, and 2,161 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,800 people are in Iowa Falls on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 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 Iowa Falls goes to work
Where Iowa Falls clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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.
Inside Iowa Falls’ 2,967 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Iowa Falls, 2014 → 2024: 3,289 → 2,967. 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 Iowa Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Iowa Falls
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa State, 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 2,187 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). 9.3% of Iowa Falls households have no vehicle (Iowa State 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Iowa Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Iowa Falls and other U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 242 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 321 | Windsor Heights IA | 5,059 | $92K | 6.2% | 1.4% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,398 | Chester SC | 5,324 | $46K | 19.4% | 7.6% | 8% | D |
| 3,399 | Lake Panasoffkee FL | 4,768 | $45K | 30.5% | 4.6% | 2% | D |
| 3,400 | Iowa Falls IA | 5,013 | $50K | 10.7% | 9.1% | 37% | D |
| 3,401 | Lexington MO | 4,568 | $57K | 17.0% | 7.4% | 13% | D |
| 3,402 | Rupert ID | 6,460 | $55K | 19.4% | 5.7% | 16% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Iowa Falls, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa State.
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 Iowa Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Iowa Falls?
$50,417 (±$5,761) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa State and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Iowa Falls?
10.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa State and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Iowa Falls?
15 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa State and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Iowa Falls work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waterloo (4%, 47 mi), Ames (3%, 39 mi), Des Moines (3%, 68 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Iowa Falls walkable?
Iowa Falls is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Iowa Falls without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Iowa Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Iowa Falls
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.