Photo: Bill Whittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Sigourney earn less than those in 77% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Sigourney itself; outside it, Oskaloosa draws the most (8%, 23 miles). 14.8% of residents are in poverty; Iowa has 11.1%. For jobs and income Sigourney is better than 13% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Sigourney stands out on work
Inside Sigourney’s Jobs & income grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sigourney’s grade.
Unemployment (8.3%) is left out: Sigourney’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, Sigourney could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Sigourney
About 28% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
How many people are in Sigourney by day
On a workday 713 residents head out to work, 168 work right here, and 710 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.00 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Sigourney ends
Where Sigourney clocks in
8% of workers
3% 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.
Jobs in Sigourney: what the 878 are
878 jobs are based in Sigourney.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sigourney, 2014 → 2024: 748 → 878. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sigourney’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Sigourney’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sigourney workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 680 commuters (the 18% 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.
Few in Sigourney walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 831 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). 5.9% of Sigourney households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sigourney’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Sigourney is 4,204th of 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,202 | Graniteville SC | 2,056 | $39K | 37.3% | 11.1% | 2% | D |
| 4,203 | Ina IL | 1,612 | $54K | 19.7% | 13.9% | 2% | D |
| 4,204 | Sigourney IA | 1,951 | $58K | 14.8% | 8.3% | 19% | D |
| 4,205 | Ganado TX | 2,009 | $57K | 15.1% | 0.5% | 8% | D |
| 4,206 | Kerens TX | 1,508 | $57K | 16.3% | 4.8% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Sigourney, 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 2024, 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 Sigourney: questions
What is the median household income in Sigourney?
$57,813 (±$16,151) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sigourney?
14.8%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sigourney?
22 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sigourney work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oskaloosa (8%, 23 mi), Ottumwa (5%, 24 mi), Washington (3%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Sigourney walkable?
Sigourney is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sigourney without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sigourney, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sigourney
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.