Photo: Carl Wycoff · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Leon are lower than in 82% of U.S. towns
2% of workers work from home (Iowa 11%). The poverty rate is 10.7%; Iowa has 11.1%. For jobs and income Leon is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Leon, in brief
A big share show a job far from home
43% 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 ↓
Leon workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 27 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 207 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Leon workers work from home
Only 2% 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; with 831 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Leon gets the Jobs & income grade it does
The poverty rate holds Leon’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 9% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.8%) is left out: Leon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Leon could be anywhere from D to C.
Near or far: the trip to work from Leon
About 43% 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 trip to work from Leon: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Leon workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 850 commuters (the 2% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Leon
On a workday 650 residents head out to work, 181 work right here, and 590 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 (0.93 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.
13% of working residents work in Osceola
Where Leon clocks in
13% of workers
6% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Leon
771 jobs are based in Leon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Leon, 2013 → 2023: 763 → 771. 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 Leon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Leon, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 869 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). 9.5% of Leon households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Leon’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Leon is 4,718th of 6,085 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 150 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 173 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,716 | Utica SC | 1,339 | $55K | 26.8% | 12.2% | 1% | D |
| 4,717 | Hampton TN | 1,883 | $39K | 19.9% | 2.9% | 2% | D |
| 4,718 | Leon IA | 1,773 | $54K | 10.7% | 0.8% | 22% | D |
| 4,719 | Helena OK | 1,527 | $62K | 12.0% | 8.7% | 11% | D |
| 4,720 | George West TX | 2,238 | $48K | 13.6% | 4.5% | 17% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Leon, 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 Leon: questions
What is the median household income in Leon?
$54,231 (±$9,510) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Leon?
10.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Leon?
27 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Leon work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Osceola (13%, 20 mi), West Des Moines (6%, 56 mi), Des Moines (5%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Leon walkable?
Leon is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Leon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Leon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Leon
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.