Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Montpelier works elsewhere
Montpelier has 9 jobs, and 56 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Montpelier itself; outside it, Muscatine draws the most (25%, 14 miles). Working from home is the commute for 47% of workers (Iowa 11%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Montpelier by day
On a workday 56 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 9 people come in from elsewhere.
About 160 people are in Montpelier on a workday afternoon, 22% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Montpelier: the destinations
Where Montpelier clocks in
25% of workers
20% of workers
4% 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.
In Montpelier, 100% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montpelier, 2014 → 2024: 38 → 9. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Montpelier’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Montpelier
of Montpelier workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 54 commuters (the 47% 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.
Where in the region Montpelier works
About 18% 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 2024.
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 2024, 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 Montpelier: questions
What is the median household income in Montpelier?
$70,938 (±$5,439) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montpelier?
4.8%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Montpelier work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Muscatine (25%, 14 mi), Davenport (20%, 13 mi), Mount Pleasant (4%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Montpelier without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montpelier, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montpelier
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.