Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and earnings in Malcom, and the trip to work
Hardly any stay in Malcom for work; outside it, Montezuma is the main destination (19%, 9 miles). The average commute takes 22 minutes each way; Iowa averages 20, the U.S. 26. 74 jobs are based in Malcom, and 121 of its residents work somewhere.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Malcom by day
On a workday 120 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 73 people come in from elsewhere.
About 210 people are in Malcom on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Malcom: the destinations
Where Malcom clocks in
19% of workers
4% 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.
Making and building: 80% of jobs based in Malcom
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Malcom, 2013 → 2023: 86 → 74. 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 Malcom’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Malcom, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Malcom workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 128 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 it is to work from Malcom
About 24% 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.
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 Malcom: questions
What is the median household income in Malcom?
$76,750 (±$12,177) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Malcom?
10.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Malcom?
22 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Malcom work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Montezuma (19%, 9 mi), Grinnell (14%, 9 mi), Cedar Rapids (4%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Malcom without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Malcom, from the people who make the trip.
More of Malcom
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.