Remsen has higher household incomes than 69% of U.S. towns
Remsen grades B for jobs and income and B for walkability. The poverty rate is 3.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa. About one in seven work in Remsen; the top destination outside it is Le Mars (28%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Remsen in brief
Remsen and Le Mars trade workers both ways
Le Mars is the top workplace for Remsen residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Remsen come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Many jobs in Remsen pay little
27% of the jobs based in Remsen pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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 933 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Remsen gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Remsen is better than 57% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Remsen’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Remsen could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Where people from Remsen work
Where Remsen clocks in
28% of workers
7% 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.
What the 555 jobs in Remsen are
555 jobs are based in Remsen.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Remsen, 2013 → 2023: 501 → 555. 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 Remsen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Remsen on a workday afternoon
On a workday 796 residents head out to work, 137 work right here, and 418 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Remsen on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.59 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 22 minutes to work from Remsen
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Remsen workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 896 commuters (the 12% 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 it is to work from Remsen
About 19% 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.
Remsen is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Remsen is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,016 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). 4.2% of Remsen households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Remsen’s commuters take a bus or train.
Remsen is 1,648th of 5,381 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 186 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,646 | Bass River Township NJ | 1,408 | $76K | 5.8% | 4.0% | 4% | B |
| 1,647 | High Rolls NM | 1,313 | $86K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 5% | B |
| 1,648 | Remsen IA | 1,663 | $91K | 3.0% | 5.6% | 15% | B |
| 1,649 | Worthington Hills KY | 1,593 | $74K | 14.1% | 4.4% | <1% | B |
| 1,650 | Lewiston MN | 1,514 | $92K | 5.2% | 1.6% | 16% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Remsen, 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 Remsen: questions
What is the median household income in Remsen?
$91,477 (±$13,263) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Remsen?
3.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Remsen?
22 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Remsen work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Le Mars (28%, 10 mi), Sioux City (7%, 31 mi), Orange City (7%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Remsen walkable?
Remsen is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Remsen without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Remsen, from the people who make the trip.
More of Remsen
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.