Turner Hall · Photo: Jonathunder · CC BY-SA 3.0Postville’s household incomes are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Postville; the top destination outside it is Waukon (9%, 14 miles). 23.7% of residents live below the poverty line, where Iowa as a whole has 11.1%. For jobs and income Postville is better than 9% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Postville in brief
Postville makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Postville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Postville residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 38%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Postville than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Postville fell from 1,558 in 2013 to 1,144 in 2023, −27%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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 949 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Postville
Unemployment holds Postville’s grade up (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Postville could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Factories, building and farms: 45% of the jobs in Postville
1,144 jobs are based in Postville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Postville, 2013 → 2023: 1,558 → 1,144. 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 Postville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Postville commutes
About 31% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Postville
On a workday 707 residents head out to work, 242 work right here, and 902 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.21 per resident).
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 trip to work from Postville ends
Where Postville clocks in
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.
Getting to work from Postville takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Postville workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,068 commuters (the 5% 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.
Most of Postville commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,129 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). 6.6% of Postville households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Postville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200, Postville ranks 4,379th of 4,995 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 141 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 170 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,377 | Smithfield Township OH | 2,903 | $58K | 12.6% | 12.6% | 4% | D |
| 4,378 | Windsor Township OH | 1,879 | $56K | 13.6% | 2.2% | 2% | D |
| 4,379 | Postville IA | 2,402 | $49K | 23.7% | 5.2% | 26% | D |
| 4,380 | Marionville MO | 2,108 | $50K | 21.0% | 9.7% | 6% | D |
| 4,381 | St. Pauls NC | 2,109 | $37K | 37.7% | 8.8% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Postville, 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 Postville: questions
What is the median household income in Postville?
$49,485 (±$4,731) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Postville?
23.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Postville?
17 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Postville work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waukon (9%, 14 mi), Decorah (6%, 19 mi), Monona (2%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Postville walkable?
Postville is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Postville 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 Postville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Postville
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.