Knoxville WPA Athletic Field Historic District · Photo: Boscophotos · CC BY-SA 3.0Knoxville’s household incomes are lower than in 71% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Knoxville itself; outside it, Des Moines draws the most (8%, 32 miles). 12.5% of residents are in poverty, where Iowa as a whole has 11.1%. Jobs and income earn Knoxville C; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Knoxville, in brief
Knoxville trades workers with the towns around it
Knoxville has about as many jobs (3,825) as working residents (3,255), but they are mostly different people: 2,292 residents leave for work each day while 2,862 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in Knoxville are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Knoxville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Knoxville is Des Moines, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (276) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Knoxville makes and builds things
38% of the jobs based in Knoxville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Knoxville 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Inside Knoxville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Knoxville is better than 33% of U.S. towns, #104 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Knoxville’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($61,599, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Knoxville could be anywhere from C− to B.
How a workday changes Knoxville
On a workday 2,292 residents head out to work, 963 work right here, and 2,862 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 (1.18 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.
Knoxville’s commute, mile by mile
About 15% 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.
38% of the jobs in Knoxville make or build things
3,825 jobs are based in Knoxville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Knoxville, 2014 → 2024: 3,449 → 3,825. 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 Knoxville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The places Knoxville commutes to
Where Knoxville clocks in
8% of workers
5% 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 trip to work from Knoxville: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Knoxville workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,341 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.
Most of Knoxville commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Knoxville is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #108 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 3,742 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). 4.3% of Knoxville households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Knoxville’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Knoxville ranks: 2,280th of 3,125 U.S. towns of 5,200 to 10,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 141 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 186 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,278 | Corinth NY | 6,624 | $83K | 9.8% | 8.5% | 9% | C |
| 2,279 | Sauk Village IL | 9,624 | $70K | 17.6% | 12.6% | 2% | C |
| 2,280 | Knoxville IA | 7,469 | $62K | 12.5% | 4.8% | 30% | C |
| 2,281 | Chestertown MD | 5,658 | $54K | 11.6% | 3.8% | 32% | C |
| 2,282 | Madison SD | 6,065 | $66K | 9.5% | 4.4% | 49% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,125 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Knoxville, 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 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 Knoxville: questions
What is the median household income in Knoxville?
$61,599 (±$6,493) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Knoxville?
12.5%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Knoxville?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Knoxville work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Des Moines (8%, 32 mi), Pella (8%, 11 mi), West Des Moines (5%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Knoxville walkable?
Knoxville is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Knoxville without a car?
0% 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 Knoxville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Knoxville
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.