Hardin County Home Historic District · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Owasa works elsewhere
Working from home is the commute for 0% of workers, next to 11% for Iowa as a whole. Employers in Owasa report 2 jobs, and 12 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Owasa itself; outside it, Ackley draws the most (17%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
A workday in Owasa: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 12 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 2 people come in from elsewhere.
About 20 people are in Owasa on a workday afternoon, 33% 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.
The places Owasa commutes to
Where Owasa clocks in
17% of workers
17% of workers
17% 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.
Jobs in Owasa: what the 2 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Owasa, 2013 → 2023: 12 → 2. 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 Owasa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Owasa takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Owasa workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 17 commuters (the 0% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Owasa
About 17% 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 Owasa: questions
What is the poverty rate in Owasa?
4.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Owasa?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Owasa work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ackley (17%, 11 mi), Iowa Falls (17%, 7 mi), Ames (17%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Owasa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Owasa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Owasa
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.