Photo: cwwycoff1 · CC BY 2.0Unemployment in Marengo (1.8%) is lower than in 87% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Marengo is behind 77% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Marengo is better than 46% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in seven work in Marengo; the top destination outside it is Cedar Rapids (10%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Marengo stands out on work
Jobs & income in Marengo: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Marengo’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($57,941, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marengo could be anywhere from C to B+.
Half of Marengo commutes less than 22 miles
About 21% 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.
Marengo quiets down on a workday
On a workday 1,041 residents head out to work, 201 work right here, and 679 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Marengo on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.71 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.
Where the trip to work from Marengo ends
Where Marengo clocks in
10% 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 Marengo
880 jobs are based in Marengo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marengo, 2013 → 2023: 1,071 → 880. 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 Marengo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Marengo: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marengo workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,280 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.
Driving is how Marengo gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,357 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). 12.2% of Marengo households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marengo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300, Marengo ranks 2,482nd of 5,207 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 222 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,480 | North East NY | 2,990 | $85K | 13.8% | 2.3% | 23% | B− |
| 2,481 | Darien NY | 2,985 | $88K | 8.7% | 8.7% | 6% | B− |
| 2,482 | Marengo IA | 2,425 | $58K | 13.2% | 1.8% | 16% | B− |
| 2,483 | Madison Township IN | 2,132 | $69K | 9.9% | 4.0% | 2% | B− |
| 2,484 | Mount Desert ME | 2,214 | $93K | 7.4% | 1.3% | 20% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Marengo, 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 Marengo: questions
What is the median household income in Marengo?
$57,941 (±$8,359) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marengo?
13.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marengo?
20 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marengo work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedar Rapids (10%, 23 mi), Iowa City (9%, 29 mi), Williamsburg (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marengo walkable?
Marengo is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marengo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marengo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marengo
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.