Photo: Kepper66 · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Marshalltown (5.3%) than in 65% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 7.1 in Des Moines. Marshalltown grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About half stay in Marshalltown for work; outside it, Des Moines is the main destination (5%, 48 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Marshalltown’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Marshalltown is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #102 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Marshalltown’s grade up (ahead of 51% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marshalltown could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How a workday changes Marshalltown
On a workday 6,294 residents head out to work, 5,569 work right here, and 7,662 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 (1.12 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.
Where Marshalltown’s working residents head each day
Where Marshalltown clocks in
3% 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.
Goods, not services: 33% of the jobs in Marshalltown
13,231 jobs are based in Marshalltown.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marshalltown, 2013 → 2023: 16,316 → 13,231. 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 Marshalltown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 17 minutes from Marshalltown
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marshalltown workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,338 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Marshalltown
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.
Marshalltown is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marshalltown is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #35 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.0% 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 13,080 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 88% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 35% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 65% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.2% of Marshalltown households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marshalltown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Marshalltown is 1,229th of 1,509 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 37,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 386 | Johnston IA | 25,065 | $107K | 10.2% | 2.1% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 401 | Clive IA | 19,861 | $132K | 7.3% | 4.0% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 472 | North Liberty IA | 21,976 | $102K | 6.1% | 3.3% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,227 | Maywood CA | 23,600 | $61K | 19.4% | 7.8% | 3% | C |
| 1,228 | Oakdale CA | 23,246 | $83K | 14.8% | 10.2% | 16% | C |
| 1,229 | Marshalltown IA | 27,536 | $69K | 14.3% | 5.3% | 47% | C |
| 1,230 | Springfield TN | 20,090 | $59K | 22.4% | 4.7% | 25% | C |
| 1,231 | West Little River FL | 33,890 | $56K | 17.7% | 6.9% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,509 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Marshalltown, 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 Marshalltown: questions
What is the median household income in Marshalltown?
$69,068 (±$3,067) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marshalltown?
14.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marshalltown?
17 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marshalltown work?
47% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Des Moines (5%, 48 mi), Ames (3%, 37 mi), Cedar Rapids (3%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marshalltown walkable?
Marshalltown is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marshalltown without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 35% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marshalltown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marshalltown
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.