Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Muscatine earn less than those in 77% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Muscatine C; getting around on foot earns it A−. Below the poverty line: 19.1% of residents (Iowa 11.1%). For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 7.1 in Des Moines.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Muscatine’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Muscatine is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #110 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Muscatine’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Muscatine could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How a workday changes Muscatine
On a workday 5,223 residents head out to work, 5,342 work right here, and 8,862 people come in from elsewhere.
About 27,000 people are in Muscatine on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
5% of working residents work in Davenport
Where Muscatine clocks in
5% of workers
2% 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: 31% of the jobs in Muscatine
14,204 jobs are based in Muscatine.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Muscatine, 2014 → 2024: 16,140 → 14,204. 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 Muscatine’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 16 minutes each way for Muscatine’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Muscatine workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,135 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.
Muscatine’s commute, mile by mile
About 16% 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.
Muscatine is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Muscatine is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #24 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.2% 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 10,816 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 56% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 61% 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). 4.8% of Muscatine households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Muscatine’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Muscatine ranks: 1,402nd of 1,712 U.S. towns of 16,000 to 31,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Grimes IA | 17,405 | $120K | 4.4% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 434 | Johnston IA | 25,065 | $107K | 10.2% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 449 | Clive IA | 19,861 | $132K | 7.3% | 4.0% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,400 | Mount Pleasant TX | 16,225 | $51K | 18.3% | 2.5% | 51% | C |
| 1,401 | Englewood FL | 20,091 | $69K | 8.5% | 6.0% | 14% | C |
| 1,402 | Muscatine IA | 23,164 | $58K | 19.1% | 4.3% | 51% | C |
| 1,403 | Faribault MN | 25,040 | $61K | 16.4% | 5.4% | 40% | C |
| 1,404 | Los Lunas NM | 20,572 | $62K | 18.2% | 4.9% | 16% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,712 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Muscatine, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Work in the towns next to Muscatine
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Muscatine workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muscatine | – | C | A− | 16 min | $58,117 |
| Kent Estates | under 1% | B+ | B | 18 min | $121,971 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Muscatine’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Muscatine: questions
What is the median household income in Muscatine?
$58,117 (±$4,058) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Muscatine?
19.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Muscatine?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Muscatine work?
51% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Davenport (5%, 26 mi), Iowa City (5%, 29 mi), Wilton (2%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Muscatine walkable?
Muscatine is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Muscatine without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 56% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Muscatine, from the people who make the trip.
More of Muscatine
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. 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.