Photo: Ashton B Crew · CC BY 3.0Jobs and earnings in Preston, and the trip to work
About one in ten work in Preston itself; outside it, Clinton draws the most (19%, 16 miles). The average commute takes 24 minutes each way; Iowa averages 20, the U.S. 26. There are 441 jobs in Preston; 467 of its residents have a job.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Preston, in brief
Preston makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Preston are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Preston residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 35%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Preston
60% of Preston residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 41% of the jobs based in Preston pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 90% leave town for their job. 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 467 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Preston works in goods: 43% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Preston, 2013 → 2023: 386 → 441. 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 Preston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Preston
On a workday 419 residents head out to work, 48 work right here, and 393 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 (0.94 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 Preston goes to work
Where Preston clocks in
19% of workers
8% 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.
Getting to work from Preston takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Preston workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 482 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.
Preston’s commute, mile by mile
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 Preston: questions
What is the median household income in Preston?
$74,063 (±$22,379) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Preston?
13.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Preston?
24 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Preston work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Clinton (19%, 16 mi), Maquoketa (8%, 14 mi), Dubuque (6%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Preston without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Preston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Preston
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.