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Prescott, IAPhoto: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Jobs & commute in Prescott

With 0.0 jobs for every working resident, most of Prescott works elsewhere

Hardly any stay in Prescott for work; outside it, Creston is the main destination (18%, 13 miles). Prescott has 2 jobs, and 74 of its residents work somewhere. Working residents average 20 minutes each way, about the same as across Iowa.

Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made

Day and night

How many people are in Prescott by day

On a workday 74 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 2 people come in from elsewhere.

74live here, work elsewhere
0live and work here
2work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night190
Workday110
190live here− 74head out to work+ 2come in to work= 110on a workday

About 110 people are in Prescott on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.03jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

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 commute map

The places Prescott commutes to

Chicago: 1 residents work here (1%)Peoria: 1 residents work here (1%)PrescottCorning: 11 residents work here (15%)Greenfield: 2 residents work here (3%)Lenox: 3 residents work here (4%)Stuart: 2 residents work here (3%)Creston: 13 residents work here (18%)Atlantic: 3 residents work here (4%)Urbandale: 2 residents work here (3%)Des Moines: 4 residents work here (5%)CrestonCorningDes MoinesLenoxAtlanticGreenfieldPrescott
1
Creston13.2 mi away
18%13
2
Corning6.9 mi away
15%11
3
Des Moines64.4 mi away
5%4
4
Lenox10.1 mi away
4%3
5
Atlantic33.2 mi away
4%3
6
Greenfield21.1 mi away
3%2
7
Stuart36.3 mi away
3%2
8
Urbandale60.5 mi away
3%2
9
Chicago, IL363.2 mi away
1%1
10
Peoria, IL261.6 mi away
1%1
Everywhere elseother towns and states
43%32
The top trips

Where Prescott clocks in

Lines 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.

The jobs

Services make up most of the work in Prescott

Jobs based in PrescottJobs Prescott residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms0%34%
Trade, transport & utilities0%22%
Services: health, schools, offices100%45%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less100%22%
$1,251–$3,333 a month0%24%
Over $3,333 a month0%54%

Who does it

29 or younger0%26%
30 to 54100%55%
55 and older0%19%
+100%

Jobs based in Prescott, 2013 → 2023: 1 → 2. 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 Prescott’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Time on the road

The trip to work from Prescott: about 20 minutes

A year of commuting
154 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Prescott20 min
Iowa20 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
7%

of Prescott workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
How Prescott gets to work
86%Drive alone
4%Carpool
11%Walk

Share of the 111 commuters (the 7% 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 far

Near or far: the trip to work from Prescott

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miCreston: 18% · 13.2 miCorning: 15% · 6.9 miDes Moines: 5% · 64.4 miLenox: 4% · 10.1 miAtlantic: 4% · 33.2 miGreenfield: 3% · 21.1 miStuart: 3% · 36.3 miUrbandale: 3% · 60.5 miChicago: 1% · 363.2 miPeoria: 1% · 261.6 miCreston 18%Corning 15%Des Moines 5%Lenox 4%Atlantic 4%Prescott
PrescottTop destinations (size = commuters)
23%Under 10 mi17 residents
38%10–24 mi28 residents
14%25–50 mi10 residents
26%Over 50 mi19 residents

About 26% 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.

How to read these numbers

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.

How these figures and grades are made →

Jobs and commuting in Prescott: questions

What is the median household income in Prescott?

$65,000 (±$26,672) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.

What is the poverty rate in Prescott?

4.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).

How long is the commute from Prescott?

20 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.

Where do people who live in Prescott work?

0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Creston (18%, 13 mi), Corning (15%, 7 mi), Des Moines (5%, 64 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).

Can you get around Prescott without a car?

0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Prescott, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Ask neighbors
Beyond the commute

More of Prescott

Prescott home →

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.