Photo: Boscophotos · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Montezuma are lower than in 65% of U.S. towns
12.5% of residents live below the poverty line, where Iowa as a whole has 11.1%. For jobs and income Montezuma is better than 24% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (A−). About one in five work in Montezuma; the top destination outside it is Grinnell (14%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Montezuma
Montezuma makes and builds things
48% of the jobs based in Montezuma are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Montezuma residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 667 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Montezuma
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Montezuma’s grade.
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Montezuma’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, Montezuma could be anywhere from D to C+.
48% of the jobs in Montezuma make or build things
955 jobs are based in Montezuma.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montezuma, 2013 → 2023: 1,209 → 955. 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 Montezuma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Montezuma
About 31% 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.
Montezuma fills up on a workday
On a workday 530 residents head out to work, 137 work right here, and 818 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Montezuma on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 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 the trip to work from Montezuma ends
Where Montezuma clocks in
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.
About 17 minutes to work from Montezuma
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montezuma workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 583 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.
Montezuma is easy on foot, hard by bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 617 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). 6.1% of Montezuma households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Montezuma’s commuters take a bus or train.
Montezuma next to U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900: 3,774th of 5,877 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 136 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 274 | Slater IA | 1,617 | $98K | 3.8% | 1.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,772 | Conover WI | 1,373 | $62K | 7.3% | 6.4% | 4% | C− |
| 3,773 | Ardmore AL | 1,485 | $50K | 12.6% | 1.5% | 6% | C− |
| 3,774 | Montezuma IA | 1,417 | $66K | 12.5% | 3.8% | 21% | C− |
| 3,775 | Cochranton PA | 1,090 | $59K | 11.4% | 1.1% | 3% | C− |
| 3,776 | Galien Township MI | 1,387 | $56K | 17.8% | 6.4% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Montezuma, 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 Montezuma: questions
What is the median household income in Montezuma?
$65,660 (±$5,548) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montezuma?
12.5%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montezuma?
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 Montezuma work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grinnell (14%, 15 mi), Brooklyn (3%, 11 mi), Des Moines (3%, 56 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Montezuma walkable?
Montezuma is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Montezuma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montezuma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montezuma
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.