Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Keokuk trail those of 84% of U.S. towns
About half work in Keokuk itself; outside it, Fort Madison draws the most (10%, 15 miles). 18.3% of residents are in poverty, next to 11.1% for Iowa as a whole. The two grades for Keokuk are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Keokuk stands out on work
The quickest commute around
Keokuk’s 16-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 24 to 25 minutes. Next door ↓
Keokuk makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Keokuk are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Keokuk residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Keokuk
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Keokuk is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #128 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Keokuk’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($52,711, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Keokuk could be anywhere from D to C.
Goods jobs make up 37% of work in Keokuk
4,860 jobs are based in Keokuk.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Keokuk, 2013 → 2023: 6,419 → 4,860. 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 Keokuk’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Keokuk
On a workday 2,239 residents head out to work, 1,846 work right here, and 3,014 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.19 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.
The places Keokuk commutes to
Where Keokuk clocks in
10% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
Commuting from Keokuk: about 16 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Keokuk workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,889 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 Keokuk goes to work
About 26% 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.
Few in Keokuk walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Keokuk is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #79 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 4,147 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). 7.7% of Keokuk households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Keokuk’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,419th of 2,764: where Keokuk ranks among U.S. towns of 6,700 to 12,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 179 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 443 | Tiffin IA | 7,156 | $101K | 7.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,417 | Umatilla OR | 8,220 | $69K | 17.4% | 6.5% | 11% | C− |
| 2,418 | Georgetown Township IL | 7,100 | $57K | 19.4% | 5.4% | 9% | C− |
| 2,419 | Keokuk IA | 9,510 | $53K | 18.3% | 4.9% | 45% | C− |
| 2,420 | Ludington MI | 7,634 | $46K | 22.5% | 3.6% | 25% | C− |
| 2,421 | Clinton MO | 9,504 | $51K | 15.2% | 4.7% | 42% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,764 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Keokuk, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Work in the towns next to Keokuk
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Keokuk workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keokuk | – | C− | B+ | 16 min | $52,711 |
| Sandusky | under 1% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sandusky: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Keokuk’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Keokuk: questions
What is the median household income in Keokuk?
$52,711 (±$5,477) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Keokuk?
18.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Keokuk?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Keokuk work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Madison (10%, 15 mi), Burlington (3%, 31 mi), West Burlington (2%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Keokuk walkable?
Keokuk is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Keokuk without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Keokuk, from the people who make the trip.
More of Keokuk
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.