St. Mary's Parish Church Buildings · Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Riverside are higher than in 61% of U.S. towns
Riverside grades A− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Poverty touches 2.3% of residents (Iowa 11.1%). Only 8% stay in Riverside for work; outside it, Iowa City is the main destination (25%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Riverside
Riverside is where the jobs are
Riverside has 839 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Riverside and Iowa City trade workers both ways
Iowa City is the top workplace for Riverside residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Riverside come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Riverside workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 100 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 516 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Riverside’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Riverside is better than 82% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 57% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (2.0%) is left out: Riverside’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Riverside could be anywhere from B+ to A.
The daily flow of workers through Riverside
On a workday 477 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 800 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Riverside on a workday afternoon, 30% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The towns that send workers to Riverside
Where Riverside clocks in
7% 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.
How long Riverside spends getting to work: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Riverside workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 438 commuters (the 16% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Riverside
839 jobs are based in Riverside.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Riverside, 2013 → 2023: 759 → 839. 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 Riverside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Riverside
About 25% 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.
Riverside is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Riverside is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 521 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). 5.0% of Riverside households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Riverside’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Riverside is 309th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Gilbert IA | 1,389 | $123K | 3.4% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 307 | Medford MN | 1,377 | $108K | 4.9% | 3.3% | 3% | A− |
| 308 | Barre WI | 1,262 | $106K | 4.3% | 0.9% | 1% | A− |
| 309 | Riverside IA | 1,086 | $84K | 2.3% | 2.0% | 8% | A− |
| 310 | Hensley Township IL | 1,006 | $108K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| 311 | Richland Township NE | 1,432 | $91K | 2.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Riverside, 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 Riverside: questions
What is the median household income in Riverside?
$84,091 (±$13,065) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Riverside?
2.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Riverside?
33 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Riverside work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Iowa City (25%, 12 mi), Kalona (7%, 7 mi), Cedar Rapids (6%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Riverside walkable?
Riverside is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Riverside without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Riverside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Riverside
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.