Sanborn has 0.8 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income C−: better than 17% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability B+: more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 18 minutes each way (Iowa 20, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Sanborn; the top destination outside it is Sheldon (19%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Sanborn
What’s behind Sanborn’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Sanborn is better than 17% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sanborn’s grade.
Unemployment (2.1%) is left out: Sanborn’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, Sanborn could be anywhere from D to C+.
19% of working residents work in Sheldon
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Sanborn clocks in
Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Sanborn quiets down on a workday
On a workday 601 residents head out to work, 69 work right here, and 454 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Sanborn on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 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.
What the 523 jobs in Sanborn are
523 jobs are based in Sanborn. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sanborn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sanborn, 2013 → 2023: 562 → 523. 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.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Iowa
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sanborn workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 528 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Iowa: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Sanborn commutes less than 15 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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.
Most trips from Sanborn start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sanborn is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Sanborn near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 565 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). 6.6% of Sanborn households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sanborn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sanborn is 4,604th of 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Sanborn, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 124 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 146 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,602 | Whitewater CA | 1,181 | $78K | 23.4% | 18.5% | 3% | C− |
| 4,603 | Aragon GA | 1,523 | $68K | 25.4% | 14.4% | 1% | C− |
| 4,604 | Sanborn IA | 1,463 | $59K | 13.5% | 2.1% | 10% | C− |
| 4,605 | Shinglehouse PA | 1,060 | $47K | 9.0% | 2.7% | 10% | C− |
| 4,606 | Perry Township IN | 1,543 | $65K | 21.6% | 0.6% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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.
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 Sanborn: questions
What is the median household income in Sanborn?
$59,417 (±$10,046) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sanborn?
13.5%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sanborn?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sanborn work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sheldon (19%, 10 mi), Primghar (7%, 7 mi), Orange City (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sanborn walkable?
Sanborn is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sanborn without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sanborn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sanborn
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.