Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Logan are higher than in 62% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 4.6% of residents, next to 11.1% for Iowa as a whole. Logan grades B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For 2% of workers, the job is at home, where Iowa as a whole has 11%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Logan
Logan’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Logan is Omaha, NE, 30 miles away as the crow flies. 22% of working residents (125) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A lot of Logan workers cross into Nebraska
36% of Logan workers work outside Iowa, most of them in Nebraska, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Logan than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Logan fell from 732 in 2013 to 529 in 2023, −28%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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; with 581 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Logan’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Logan is better than 72% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Logan’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 49% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.1%) is left out: Logan’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, Logan could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Logan
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.
22% of working residents work in Omaha
Where Logan clocks in
22% of workers
9% 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.
The kinds of work in Logan
529 jobs are based in Logan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Logan, 2013 → 2023: 732 → 529. 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 Logan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Logan
On a workday 489 residents head out to work, 92 work right here, and 437 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 (0.91 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.
How long Logan spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Logan workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 728 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Logan
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Logan is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 747 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). 2.8% of Logan households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Logan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Logan places 832nd of 5,400 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 239 | Slater IA | 1,617 | $98K | 3.8% | 1.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 830 | North DeLand FL | 1,102 | $67K | 4.3% | 4.1% | <1% | B+ |
| 831 | Forest Prairie Township MN | 1,002 | $108K | 3.7% | 3.1% | <1% | B+ |
| 832 | Logan IA | 1,352 | $85K | 4.6% | 1.1% | 16% | B+ |
| 833 | Leetsdale PA | 1,102 | $66K | 5.7% | 4.8% | 7% | B+ |
| 834 | Dalton PA | 1,296 | $96K | 7.8% | 0.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Logan, 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 Logan: questions
What is the median household income in Logan?
$84,833 (±$15,154) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Logan?
4.6%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Logan?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Logan work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Omaha (22%, 30 mi), Council Bluffs (9%, 28 mi), Missouri Valley (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Logan walkable?
Logan is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Logan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Logan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Logan
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.