Photo: Billwhittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0Shell Rock has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Only 4% work in Shell Rock itself; outside it, Waterloo draws the most (24%, 20 miles). Shell Rock has 310 jobs, and 580 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Shell Rock B; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Shell Rock: the figures worth knowing
Shell Rock makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Shell Rock are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Shell Rock residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
Shell Rock workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 26 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 199 hours of commuting, 46 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 580 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Shell Rock: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Shell Rock is better than 64% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Shell Rock’s grade up (5.0%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.9%) is left out: Shell Rock’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, Shell Rock could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Goods jobs make up 36% of work in Shell Rock
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shell Rock, 2013 → 2023: 268 → 310. 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 Shell Rock’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Shell Rock spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shell Rock workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 742 commuters (the 5% 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 a workday changes Shell Rock
On a workday 558 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 288 people come in from elsewhere.
About 980 people are in Shell Rock on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
Where people from Shell Rock work
Where Shell Rock clocks in
24% of workers
16% of workers
15% 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 many miles Shell Rock commutes
About 21% 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.
Most trips from Shell Rock start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shell Rock is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 785 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). 3.3% of Shell Rock households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shell Rock’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,063rd of 4,866: where Shell Rock ranks among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Slater IA | 1,617 | $98K | 3.8% | 1.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,061 | Homer Township MN | 1,310 | $94K | 5.3% | 0.8% | <1% | B |
| 1,062 | Medary Township SD | 1,579 | $108K | 6.7% | 2.2% | 1% | B |
| 1,063 | Shell Rock IA | 1,252 | $79K | 5.0% | 2.9% | 4% | B |
| 1,064 | Aurora SD | 1,286 | $96K | 2.7% | 3.3% | 1% | B |
| 1,065 | East Carroll Township PA | 1,413 | $81K | 4.8% | 4.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Shell Rock, 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 Shell Rock: questions
What is the median household income in Shell Rock?
$78,657 (±$8,035) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shell Rock?
5.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shell Rock?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shell Rock work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waterloo (24%, 20 mi), Waverly (16%, 6 mi), Cedar Falls (15%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shell Rock walkable?
Shell Rock is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shell Rock without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shell Rock, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shell Rock
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.