Chain Lakes Bridge · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Cedar Rapids draws more than half of Palo’s working residents
Jobs and income earn Palo A; getting around on foot earns it C. Household incomes here are higher than in 81% of U.S. towns. Only 1% stay in Palo for work; outside it, Cedar Rapids is the main destination (58%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Palo at work: what stands out
More than half of Palo works in Cedar Rapids
393 working residents, 58%, have their main job in Cedar Rapids, 9.3 miles away. That’s 58 times as many as work in Palo itself. The commute map ↓
Palo workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 28 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 215 hours of commuting, 61 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 680 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Palo
On income, poverty and job access, Palo is better than 88% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Palo’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (1.9%) is left out: Palo’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, Palo could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Where people from Palo work
Where Palo clocks in
58% of workers
5% 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.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Palo
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Palo workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 679 commuters (the 15% 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.
Who leaves Palo for work, and who comes in
On a workday 670 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 219 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Palo on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.34 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Palo makes things: 33% of its jobs are in goods
229 jobs are based in Palo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Palo, 2013 → 2023: 119 → 229. 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 Palo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Palo
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.
For most of Palo, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Palo is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Palo near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 795 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.4% of Palo households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Palo’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Palo ranks: 359th of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 357 | Wheeler AFB HI | 2,097 | $92K | 1.3% | 4.9% | 2% | A |
| 358 | South Willard UT | 1,532 | $119K | 4.5% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 359 | Palo IA | 1,551 | $106K | 5.5% | 1.9% | 1% | A |
| 360 | Oregon Township IN | 1,881 | $91K | 1.0% | 1.7% | 1% | A |
| 361 | Albion WI | 2,007 | $108K | 5.2% | 2.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Palo, 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 Palo: questions
What is the median household income in Palo?
$106,375 (±$15,711) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Palo?
5.5%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Palo?
28 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Palo work?
1% work in town.
Is Palo walkable?
Palo is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Palo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Palo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Palo
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.