Big Creek Bridge · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Slater has higher household incomes than 75% of U.S. towns
3.8% of residents are in poverty, next to 11.1% for Iowa as a whole. Jobs and income earn Slater A; getting around on foot earns it B+. Only 4% work in Slater itself; outside it, Ames draws the most (25%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Slater
Slater has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Slater went from 393 in 2013 to 747 in 2023, +90%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Slater pay over $40,000 a year
82% of the jobs based in Slater pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
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 787 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Slater
On income, poverty and job access, Slater is better than 90% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (1.1%) is left out: Slater’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, Slater could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
82% of the jobs in Slater pay over $3,333 a month
747 jobs are based in Slater.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Slater, 2013 → 2023: 393 → 747. 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 Slater’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Slater
On a workday 757 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 717 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 (0.95 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.
Where Slater’s working residents head each day
Where Slater clocks in
25% 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.
Commuting from Slater: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Slater workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 643 commuters (the 17% 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.
The commute from Slater, by distance
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.
In Slater, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Slater is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 774 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). 1.4% of Slater households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Slater’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200, Slater ranks 322nd of 6,161 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 320 | Etna OH | 1,440 | $114K | 7.4% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| 321 | Gardendale TX | 1,544 | $104K | 1.5% | 0.1% | 2% | A |
| 322 | Slater IA | 1,617 | $98K | 3.8% | 1.1% | 4% | A |
| 323 | Wakarusa Township KS | 2,173 | $99K | 3.7% | 2.2% | 2% | A |
| 324 | Crystal Lawns IL | 1,766 | $82K | 7.0% | 0.9% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Slater, 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 Slater: questions
What is the median household income in Slater?
$97,500 (±$23,378) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Slater?
3.8%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Slater?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Slater work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ames (25%, 11 mi), Des Moines (11%, 22 mi), Ankeny (9%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Slater walkable?
Slater is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Slater without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Slater, from the people who make the trip.
More of Slater
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.