Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Panama has 2.2 jobs for every working resident: 216 people commute in to work
Home is the office for 4% of workers; Iowa has 11%. 219 jobs are based in Panama; 100 of its residents have a job. Only 3% work in Panama; the top destination outside it is Harlan (28%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
In and out of Panama on a workday
On a workday 97 residents head out to work and 3 work right here.
About 350 people are in Panama on a workday afternoon, 52% more 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 people who work in Panama live
Where Panama clocks in
28% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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.
77% of the jobs in Panama pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Panama, 2013 → 2023: 41 → 219. 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 Panama’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Panama: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Panama workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 138 commuters (the 3% 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 Panama
About 16% 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 Panama: questions
What is the median household income in Panama?
$63,125 (±$62,459) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Panama?
7.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Panama?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Panama work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harlan (28%, 9 mi), Shelby (8%, 15 mi), Council Bluffs (8%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Panama without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Panama, from the people who make the trip.
More of Panama
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.