Photo: Bill Whittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0At 2.8%, unemployment in New Hampton is lower than in 73% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers, next to 11% for Iowa as a whole. The two grades for New Hampton are C for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About two in five stay in New Hampton for work; outside it, Charles City is the main destination (4%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
New Hampton and work: the main findings
New Hampton is where the jobs are
New Hampton has 2,812 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
New Hampton makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in New Hampton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs New Hampton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 35%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from New Hampton are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 20 across Iowa. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Iowa 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.
New Hampton’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, New Hampton is better than 33% of U.S. towns, #107 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds New Hampton’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (17.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, New Hampton could be anywhere from D to B.
New Hampton on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,021 residents head out to work, 702 work right here, and 2,110 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,500 people are in New Hampton on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
A place that makes things: 36% of New Hampton’s jobs are in goods
2,812 jobs are based in New Hampton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Hampton, 2014 → 2024: 2,315 → 2,812. 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 New Hampton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long New Hampton spends getting to work: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Hampton workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,458 commuters (the 5% 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 New Hampton’s workers come from
Where New Hampton clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
How far New Hampton’s workers travel
About 20% 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.
Getting around New Hampton: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, New Hampton is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #110 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% 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 1,534 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). 3.2% of New Hampton households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of New Hampton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, New Hampton is 2,997th of 4,402 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 340 | Fairfax IA | 2,925 | $114K | 6.2% | 1.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 400 | Park View IA | 2,437 | $113K | 2.8% | 3.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,995 | Weaver AL | 3,289 | $49K | 15.7% | 2.6% | 1% | C |
| 2,996 | Spirit Lake ID | 2,485 | $65K | 6.7% | 3.7% | 5% | C |
| 2,997 | New Hampton IA | 3,420 | $63K | 17.3% | 2.8% | 41% | C |
| 2,998 | Bedford PA | 2,817 | $41K | 12.5% | 2.6% | 15% | C |
| 2,999 | Manti UT | 3,794 | $63K | 14.8% | 1.6% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 New Hampton, 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 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 New Hampton: questions
What is the median household income in New Hampton?
$62,870 (±$11,291) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Hampton?
17.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Hampton?
15 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Hampton work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charles City (4%, 18 mi), Waterloo (4%, 39 mi), Mason City (3%, 45 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is New Hampton walkable?
New Hampton is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around New Hampton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Hampton, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Hampton
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.