Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Red Oak has lower household incomes than 88% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Red Oak is better than 19% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (B−). Poverty touches 21.9% of residents, next to 11.1% for Iowa as a whole. About one in three work in Red Oak; the top destination outside it is Omaha (6%, 46 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Why Red Oak gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Red Oak’s grade up (2.9%, 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, Red Oak could be anywhere from D to C.
Who leaves Red Oak for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,599 residents head out to work, 788 work right here, and 1,434 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 (0.93 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 Red Oak’s working residents head each day
Where Red Oak clocks in
6% 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.
Jobs in Red Oak: what the 2,222 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Red Oak, 2013 → 2023: 2,384 → 2,222. 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 Red Oak’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 21 minutes from Red Oak
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Red Oak workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,045 commuters (the 11% 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.
The distance from Red Oak to work
About 20% 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.
In Red Oak, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.4% across Iowa.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,297 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). 6.0% of Red Oak households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Red Oak’s commuters take a bus or train.
Red Oak places 2,953rd of 3,541 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 146 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 209 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 242 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,951 | Crestline OH | 4,487 | $52K | 14.4% | 6.6% | 8% | C− |
| 2,952 | Tioga NY | 4,291 | $69K | 11.3% | 10.4% | 6% | C− |
| 2,953 | Red Oak IA | 5,388 | $50K | 21.9% | 2.9% | 33% | C− |
| 2,954 | Carmi IL | 4,623 | $48K | 21.8% | 2.7% | 30% | C− |
| 2,955 | Kaser NY | 6,121 | $27K | 65.5% | 7.0% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,541 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Red Oak, 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 Red Oak: questions
What is the median household income in Red Oak?
$50,109 (±$7,799) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Red Oak?
21.9%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Red Oak?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Red Oak work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Omaha (6%, 46 mi), Council Bluffs (4%, 36 mi), Clarinda (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Red Oak walkable?
Red Oak is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Red Oak without a car?
0% 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 Red Oak, from the people who make the trip.
More of Red Oak
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.