Paton has 2.4 jobs for every working resident: 205 people commute in to work
1% of workers work from home; Iowa has 11%. Employers in Paton report 209 jobs, and 88 of its residents work somewhere. Only 5% stay in Paton for work; outside it, Jefferson is the main destination (30%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Paton for work, and who comes in
On a workday 84 residents head out to work and 4 work right here.
About 340 people are in Paton on a workday afternoon, 56% 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.
Who travels to work in Paton, and from where
Where Paton clocks in
30% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
Paton makes things: 72% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Paton, 2013 → 2023: 187 → 209. 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 Paton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes each way, longer than most of Iowa
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Paton workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 144 commuters (the 1% 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 many miles Paton commutes
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 Paton: questions
What is the median household income in Paton?
$63,393 (±$12,862) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Paton?
6.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Paton?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Paton work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jefferson (30%, 12 mi), Boone (7%, 21 mi), Grand Junction (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Paton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Paton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Paton
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.