Photo: Carl Wycoff from Nevada, USA · CC BY 2.0Ogden has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
The two grades for Ogden are C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Employers in Ogden report 330 jobs; 873 of its residents have a job. Only 8% work in Ogden itself; outside it, Ames draws the most (20%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Ogden
How Ogden earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Ogden is better than 44% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ogden’s grade.
Unemployment (2.6%) is left out: Ogden’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Ogden could be anywhere from C− to B+.
How long Ogden spends getting to work: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ogden workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 868 commuters (the 9% 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 Ogden on a workday
On a workday 804 residents head out to work, 69 work right here, and 261 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Ogden on a workday afternoon, 27% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Ogden ends
Where Ogden clocks in
20% of workers
15% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Ogden
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ogden, 2013 → 2023: 332 → 330. 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 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Ogden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Ogden
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Ogden gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ogden is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 958 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). 3.1% of Ogden households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Ogden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700, Ogden ranks 2,601st of 5,509 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 141 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,599 | Norway Township MI | 1,524 | $91K | 9.0% | 1.2% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,600 | Hamiltonban Township PA | 2,347 | $91K | 14.4% | 3.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,601 | Ogden IA | 1,975 | $70K | 9.3% | 2.6% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,602 | Birch Run MI | 1,540 | $71K | 13.5% | 4.4% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,603 | Gordonsville TN | 1,464 | $58K | 5.8% | 0.7% | 9% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Ogden, 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 2023, 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 Ogden: questions
What is the median household income in Ogden?
$70,268 (±$14,997) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ogden?
9.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ogden?
27 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ogden work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ames (20%, 21 mi), Boone (15%, 8 mi), Des Moines (6%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ogden walkable?
Ogden is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ogden without a car?
<1% 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 Ogden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ogden
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, 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.