Photo: Mavis Cook / FortepanIowa · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Meservey commutes out: there are 0.0 jobs for every working resident
There are 4 jobs in Meservey, against 110 working residents. Hardly any work in Meservey; the top destination outside it is Mason City (30%, 21 miles). Home is the office for 2% of workers, against 11% across Iowa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Meservey, and who commutes in
On a workday 110 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 4 people come in from elsewhere.
About 110 people are in Meservey on a workday afternoon, 50% 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.
Where Meservey’s working residents head each day
Where Meservey clocks in
30% of workers
7% 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.
Most jobs in Meservey are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Meservey, 2013 → 2023: 16 → 4. 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 Meservey’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Meservey, about 32 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Meservey workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 84 commuters (the 2% 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.
The distance from Meservey to work
About 26% 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 Meservey: questions
What is the median household income in Meservey?
$46,750 (±$22,560) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Meservey?
31.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Meservey?
32 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Meservey work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mason City (30%, 21 mi), Rockwell (9%, 15 mi), Clear Lake (7%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Meservey without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Meservey, from the people who make the trip.
More of Meservey
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.