Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Neola works elsewhere
172 jobs are based in Neola, against 392 working residents. Only 6% stay in Neola for work; outside it, Omaha is the main destination (23%, 26 miles). The average commute takes 26 minutes each way (Iowa 20, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Neola
Neola’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Neola is Omaha, NE, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 23% of working residents (92) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A lot of Neola workers cross into Nebraska
22% of Neola workers work outside Iowa, most of them in Nebraska, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Neola workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 26 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 199 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 392 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Neola
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.
Commuting out of Neola: the destinations
Where Neola clocks in
23% of workers
20% 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.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Neola
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Neola workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 384 commuters (the 16% 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.
In and out of Neola on a workday
On a workday 369 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 149 people come in from elsewhere.
About 680 people are in Neola on a workday afternoon, 24% 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.
Goods jobs make up 49% of work in Neola
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Neola, 2014 → 2024: 84 → 172. 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 Neola’s own residents hold wherever they work.
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 Neola: questions
What is the median household income in Neola?
$73,306 (±$3,072) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Neola?
6.1%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Neola?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Neola work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Omaha (23%, 26 mi), Council Bluffs (20%, 19 mi), Harlan (3%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Neola without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Neola, from the people who make the trip.
More of Neola
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.