Photo: w_lemay · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Sioux City have lower incomes than those in 60% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 7.1 in Des Moines. Below the poverty line: 15.3% of residents; Iowa has 11.1%. The two grades for Sioux City are C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Sioux City, in brief
Most jobs in Sioux City go to people who live here
Of the 41,608 jobs based in Sioux City, 51% are held by Sioux City residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Sioux City averages 18 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (12 to 15 minutes). Next door ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Sioux City’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sioux City is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #89 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car holds Sioux City’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sioux City could be anywhere from C to B−.
Who commutes out of Sioux City, and who commutes in
On a workday 18,075 residents head out to work, 21,371 work right here, and 20,237 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 (1.05 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.
5% of working residents work in South Sioux City
Where Sioux City clocks in
4% 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.
What the 41,608 jobs in Sioux City are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sioux City, 2014 → 2024: 40,441 → 41,608. 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 Sioux City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 18 minutes to work from Sioux City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sioux City workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 39,611 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 far it is to work from Sioux City
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Sioux City
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sioux City is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #22 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.3% 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 41,678 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 91% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 61% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 68% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.0% of Sioux City households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sioux City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Sioux City ranks: 417th of 540 U.S. towns of 60,000 to 117,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Ankeny IA | 77,833 | $108K | 4.2% | 1.9% | 22% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | West Des Moines IA | 74,224 | $87K | 8.4% | 2.4% | 30% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 218 | Ames IA | 68,220 | $61K | 25.5% | 5.8% | 50% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 415 | Santa Fe NM | 89,837 | $73K | 12.9% | 5.1% | 57% | C+ |
| 416 | Knight Township IN | 68,332 | $58K | 16.4% | 4.1% | 26% | C+ |
| 417 | Sioux City IA | 86,356 | $69K | 15.3% | 4.5% | 54% | C+ |
| 418 | Springfield OR | 61,431 | $69K | 14.9% | 5.1% | 25% | C+ |
| 419 | Grand Junction CO | 71,827 | $70K | 11.8% | 4.8% | 64% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 540 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 50% | 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 Sioux City, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
13% of Sioux City works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to South Sioux City (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sioux City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux City | – | C+ | A− | 18 min | $68,906 |
| Sergeant Bluff | 1% | A− | B+ | 13 min | $123,481 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sioux City’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Sioux City: questions
What is the median household income in Sioux City?
$68,906 (±$4,550) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sioux City?
15.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sioux City?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sioux City work?
54% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are South Sioux City (5%, 3 mi), Le Mars (4%, 23 mi), North Sioux City (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Sioux City walkable?
Sioux City is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sioux City without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 61% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sioux City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sioux City
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.