Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Rochester works elsewhere
For 0% of workers, the job is at home (Iowa 11%). Rochester has 4 jobs; 66 of its residents have a job. Hardly any stay in Rochester for work; outside it, Iowa City is the main destination (29%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
In and out of Rochester on a workday
On a workday 66 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 4 people come in from elsewhere.
About 28 people are in Rochester on a workday afternoon, 69% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Rochester: the destinations
Where Rochester clocks in
15% of workers
9% 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.
Goods, not services: 100% of the jobs in Rochester
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
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 Rochester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Rochester
of Rochester workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 34 commuters (the 0% 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 Rochester goes to work
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 Rochester: questions
What is the poverty rate in Rochester?
0.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Rochester work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Iowa City (29%, 20 mi), Cedar Rapids (15%, 34 mi), Tipton (9%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Rochester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rochester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rochester
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.