With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Manson works elsewhere
There are 358 jobs in Manson, and 746 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Manson is better than 28% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in seven work in Manson; the top destination outside it is Fort Dodge (22%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Manson’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Manson’s grade up (8.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.2%) is left out: Manson’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, Manson could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Manson on a workday afternoon
On a workday 641 residents head out to work, 105 work right here, and 253 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Manson on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Manson commutes to
Where Manson clocks in
22% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Manson
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manson, 2013 → 2023: 352 → 358. 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 Manson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Manson takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manson workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 730 commuters (the 7% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Manson
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.
Most of Manson commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 789 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). 4.9% of Manson households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Manson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Manson places 3,711th of 6,161 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,709 | Rumney NH | 1,479 | $79K | 10.4% | 5.3% | 9% | C |
| 3,710 | Sigel WI | 1,162 | $82K | 21.3% | 4.3% | 1% | C |
| 3,711 | Manson IA | 1,617 | $66K | 8.9% | 5.2% | 14% | C |
| 3,712 | Watervliet MI | 1,720 | $61K | 15.9% | 4.0% | 6% | C |
| 3,713 | Paw Paw Township IN | 1,553 | $68K | 11.5% | 2.3% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | 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 Manson, 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 Manson: questions
What is the median household income in Manson?
$66,250 (±$10,572) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manson?
8.9%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manson?
22 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manson work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Dodge (22%, 19 mi), Rockwell City (4%, 10 mi), Pocahontas (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manson walkable?
Manson is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manson
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.