Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Jesup are higher than in 67% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Jesup B; getting around on foot earns it C+. Poverty touches 7.0% of residents, against 11.1% across Iowa. About one in ten work in Jesup; the top destination outside it is Waterloo (30%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Jesup apart on work
Jesup and Waterloo trade workers both ways
Waterloo is the top workplace for Jesup residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Jesup come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Jesup makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Jesup are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Jesup residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. 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.
Inside Jesup’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Jesup is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #61 of 140 in Iowa. Household income holds Jesup’s grade up ($89,408, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jesup could be anywhere from C to A.
Where Jesup’s working residents head each day
Where Jesup clocks in
30% 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.
Making and building: 35% of jobs based in Jesup
795 jobs are based in Jesup.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jesup, 2013 → 2023: 686 → 795. 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 Jesup’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Jesup by day
On a workday 1,102 residents head out to work, 125 work right here, and 670 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Jesup on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.65 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 23 minutes to work from Jesup
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jesup workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,183 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Jesup
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Jesup is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jesup is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns, #126 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.4% across Iowa.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,262 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). 6.5% of Jesup households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jesup’s commuters take a bus or train.
Jesup next to U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500: 1,891st of 5,083 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,889 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| 1,890 | Delaware City DE | 1,939 | $85K | 6.4% | 7.5% | 4% | B |
| 1,891 | Jesup IA | 2,557 | $89K | 7.0% | 5.2% | 10% | B |
| 1,892 | Mount Pulaski Township IL | 2,018 | $73K | 5.9% | 2.2% | 14% | B |
| 1,893 | Unadilla Township MI | 3,284 | $72K | 7.1% | 3.5% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | 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 Jesup, 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 Jesup: questions
What is the median household income in Jesup?
$89,408 (±$16,049) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jesup?
7.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jesup?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jesup work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waterloo (30%, 15 mi), Cedar Falls (9%, 20 mi), Independence (8%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jesup walkable?
Jesup is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jesup without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jesup, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jesup
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.