Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Montrose commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
Only 4% work in Montrose itself; outside it, Keokuk draws the most (35%, 8 miles). 114 jobs are based in Montrose; 289 of its residents have a job. Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, against 11% across Iowa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Montrose in brief
Montrose and Keokuk trade workers both ways
Keokuk is the top workplace for Montrose residents (35%) and also where the most people who work in Montrose come from (25% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Montrose residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 289 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Montrose’s working residents head each day
Where Montrose clocks in
35% of workers
15% 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.
The distance from Montrose to work
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The daily flow of workers through Montrose
On a workday 278 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 103 people come in from elsewhere.
About 570 people are in Montrose on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
Most jobs in Montrose are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montrose, 2014 → 2024: 227 → 114. 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 Montrose’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Montrose: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montrose workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 372 commuters (the 3% 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.
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 Montrose: questions
What is the median household income in Montrose?
$66,250 (±$24,792) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montrose?
11.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montrose?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Montrose work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Keokuk (35%, 8 mi), Fort Madison (15%, 8 mi), West Burlington (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Montrose without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montrose, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montrose
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.