Ossian at work: jobs, income and the commute
Only 6% work in Ossian; the top destination outside it is Decorah (35%, 11 miles). Commuters spend 21 minutes getting to work on average; the Iowa average is 20, the U.S. 26. Employers in Ossian report 469 jobs for 400 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ossian and work: the main findings
One in three of Ossian works in Decorah
138 working residents, 35%, have their main job in Decorah, 11 miles away. That’s 6 times as many as work in Ossian itself. The commute map ↓
Ossian makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Ossian are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ossian residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
Ossian’s workforce skews older
36% of Ossian’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 400 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Ossian’s working residents head each day
Where Ossian clocks in
35% of workers
3% 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.
Ossian works in goods: 45% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ossian, 2013 → 2023: 406 → 469. 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 Ossian’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Ossian for work, and who comes in
On a workday 375 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 444 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.17 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 21 minutes each way, about the IA average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ossian workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 382 commuters (the 7% 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.
How far it is to work from Ossian
About 28% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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 Ossian: questions
What is the median household income in Ossian?
$71,875 (±$29,860) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ossian?
9.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ossian?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ossian work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Decorah (35%, 11 mi), Cedar Rapids (3%, 82 mi), Cresco (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Ossian 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 Ossian, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ossian
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.