Stone Academy · Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Solon has lower unemployment (0.9%) than 95% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Solon is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Solon A+; getting around on foot earns it A−. About one in ten work in Solon itself; outside it, Iowa City draws the most (35%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Solon, in brief
The better-paid jobs are outside Solon
69% of Solon residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 42% of the jobs based in Solon pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 91% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
One in three of Solon works in Iowa City
521 working residents, 35%, have their main job in Iowa City, 11 miles away. That’s 4 times as many as work in Solon itself. The commute map ↓
Many jobs in Solon pay little
31% of the jobs based in Solon pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 36% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. 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.
The four measures behind Solon’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Solon is better than 96% of U.S. towns, #2 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Solon could be anywhere from A to A+.
What Solon’s employers do
925 jobs are based in Solon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Solon, 2013 → 2023: 695 → 925. 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 Solon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Solon’s working residents head each day
Where Solon clocks in
16% of workers
6% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Solon
On a workday 1,368 residents head out to work, 130 work right here, and 795 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Solon on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.62 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Solon
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Solon workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,534 commuters (the 11% 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.
Half of Solon commutes less than 10 miles
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Solon
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Solon is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #36 of 140 in Iowa. Both inputs place Solon 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 1,714 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 3.8% of Solon households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Solon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,593 U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500, Solon comes 152nd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 150 | Hammond WI | 2,732 | $128K | 1.5% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 151 | Bushland TX | 2,779 | $146K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 152 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 9% | A+ |
| 153 | Brightwaters NY | 3,208 | $218K | 0.2% | 4.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 154 | Leroy Township OH | 3,123 | $114K | 3.5% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 342 | Fairfax IA | 2,925 | $114K | 6.2% | 1.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 407 | Park View IA | 2,437 | $113K | 2.8% | 3.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Solon, 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 Solon: questions
What is the median household income in Solon?
$113,295 (±$25,955) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Solon?
3.2%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Solon?
20 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Solon work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Iowa City (35%, 11 mi), Cedar Rapids (16%, 14 mi), Coralville (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Solon walkable?
Solon is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Solon without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Solon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Solon
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.