Household incomes in Panora trail those of 64% of U.S. towns
20% of workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. 9.3% of residents are in poverty, against 11.1% across Iowa. Jobs and income earn Panora C+; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Panora: the gist
Panora is where the jobs are
Panora has 621 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A lot of Panora works from home
21% of Panora workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. 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 397 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Panora’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Panora is better than 35% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Panora’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.3%) is left out: Panora’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, Panora could be anywhere from C− to B.
Panora by day and by night
On a workday 334 residents head out to work, 63 work right here, and 558 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Panora on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The daily trip from Panora: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Panora workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 509 commuters (the 20% 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.
Where Panora’s workers come from
Where Panora clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
What work there is in Panora: 621 jobs
621 jobs are based in Panora.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Panora, 2013 → 2023: 617 → 621. 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 Panora’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Panora to work
About 24% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Panora
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Panora is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Panora 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 640 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). 2.5% of Panora households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Panora’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Panora ranks: 1,863rd of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Gilbert IA | 1,389 | $123K | 3.4% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,861 | Molino FL | 1,447 | $75K | 8.2% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,862 | Springdale NC | 1,075 | $55K | 19.0% | 0.0% | <1% | C+ |
| 1,863 | Panora IA | 1,094 | $66K | 9.3% | 6.3% | 16% | C+ |
| 1,864 | Frankston TX | 1,133 | $57K | 9.5% | 4.2% | 7% | C+ |
| 1,865 | Wilmot Township PA | 1,135 | $85K | 9.4% | 7.6% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Panora, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
The towns around Panora
The biggest share goes to Lake Panorama (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Panora workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panora | – | C+ | A | 23 min | $66,339 |
| Lake Panorama | 3% | — | — | 37 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lake Panorama: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Panora’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Panora: questions
What is the median household income in Panora?
$66,339 (±$7,774) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Panora?
9.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Panora?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Panora work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Guthrie Center (5%, 7 mi), Stuart (4%, 13 mi), Perry (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Panora walkable?
Panora is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Panora without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Panora, from the people who make the trip.
More of Panora
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.