Photo: SkylerSailer · CC BY-SA 4.0Le Mars has lower unemployment (2.8%) than 73% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers (Iowa 11%). Jobs and income earn Le Mars B; getting around on foot earns it B−. About half work in Le Mars itself; outside it, Sioux City draws the most (10%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Le Mars: the figures worth knowing
Le Mars gains people on a workday
About 14,000 people are in Le Mars on a workday afternoon, 26% more than the 11,000 who live here: 5,500 come in to work and 2,700 head out. Day and night ↓
Le Mars makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Le Mars are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Le Mars residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 34%. The jobs ↓
Le Mars’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Le Mars is Sioux City, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (584) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Le Mars workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Le Mars: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Le Mars is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #59 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Le Mars’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% 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, Le Mars could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Le Mars fills up on a workday
On a workday 2,747 residents head out to work, 2,858 work right here, and 5,495 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Le Mars on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.49 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.
A place that makes things: 39% of Le Mars’ jobs are in goods
8,353 jobs are based in Le Mars.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Le Mars, 2013 → 2023: 7,061 → 8,353. 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 Le Mars’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Le Mars’ commute, mile by mile
About 18% 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 daily trip from Le Mars: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Le Mars workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,391 commuters (the 3% 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.
The places Le Mars commutes to
Where Le Mars clocks in
10% 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.
Most trips from Le Mars start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Le Mars is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #101 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 5,572 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). 5.8% of Le Mars households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Le Mars’ commuters take a bus or train.
1,315th of 2,507: where Le Mars ranks among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 163 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 590 | Sioux Center IA | 8,864 | $93K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 50% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 865 | Pella IA | 10,992 | $84K | 6.0% | 1.1% | 41% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,313 | Richland Township OH | 14,307 | $77K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 24% | B |
| 1,314 | Mooresville IN | 10,173 | $69K | 13.0% | 3.4% | 12% | B |
| 1,315 | Le Mars IA | 10,760 | $75K | 9.2% | 2.8% | 51% | B |
| 1,316 | Charles Town WV | 9,329 | $89K | 6.5% | 5.9% | 8% | B |
| 1,317 | Cincinnati Township IL | 8,825 | $84K | 8.4% | 5.1% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Le Mars, 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 Le Mars: questions
What is the median household income in Le Mars?
$74,701 (±$5,737) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Le Mars?
9.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Le Mars?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Le Mars work?
51% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sioux City (10%, 23 mi), Sioux Center (3%, 20 mi), Orange City (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Le Mars walkable?
Le Mars is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Le Mars without a car?
1% 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 Le Mars, from the people who make the trip.
More of Le Mars
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.