Photo: Kevin Schuchmann · CC BY-SA 3.0Manchester has 1.6 jobs for every working resident: 2,668 people commute in to work
Jobs & income C+: better than 36% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #99 of 140 in Iowa.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns · #123 of 140 in Iowa.
Household incomes here are lower than in 72% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 14 minutes each way (Iowa 20, U.S. 26). About one in three work in Manchester; the top destination outside it is Cedar Rapids (11%, 38 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Manchester
Manchester’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Manchester is Cedar Rapids, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (234) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Manchester is where the jobs are
Manchester has 3,452 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Manchester are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 20 across Iowa. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Iowa worker. 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.
What’s behind Manchester’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Manchester is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #99 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Manchester’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($61,191, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Manchester could be anywhere from D to B.
Half of Manchester commutes less than 16 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 17% 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.
Manchester fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,345 residents head out to work, 784 work right here, and 2,668 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,700 people are in Manchester on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
About 14 minutes each way, quicker than most of Iowa
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manchester workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,697 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Iowa: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Where Manchester’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Manchester clocks in
11% of workers
4% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Manchester makes things: 29% of its jobs are in goods
3,452 jobs are based in Manchester. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Manchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manchester, 2013 → 2023: 3,649 → 3,452. 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.
Most trips from Manchester start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manchester is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns, #123 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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 2,844 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). 9.9% of Manchester households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Manchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Manchester is 2,474th of 3,651 U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,200 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Manchester, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 221 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 256 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,472 | Center Township IN | 5,135 | $59K | 16.8% | 3.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,473 | Preston ID | 6,177 | $61K | 11.0% | 2.7% | 30% | C+ |
| 2,474 | Manchester IA | 5,357 | $61K | 11.4% | 3.5% | 37% | C+ |
| 2,475 | St. John MO | 6,441 | $54K | 15.4% | 6.3% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,476 | Cortez FL | 5,205 | $80K | 10.5% | 11.0% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,651 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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.
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 Manchester: questions
What is the median household income in Manchester?
$61,191 (±$7,149) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manchester?
11.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manchester?
14 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manchester work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedar Rapids (11%, 38 mi), Dubuque (4%, 38 mi), Dyersville (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manchester walkable?
Manchester is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manchester 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 Manchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manchester
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.