Imes Covered Bridge · Photo: Jet Lowe · Public domainSt. Charles has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
The average commute takes 36 minutes each way, where Iowa has 20 and the U.S. 26. 59 jobs are based in St. Charles; 335 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in St. Charles itself; outside it, Des Moines draws the most (23%, 22 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 St. Charles
St. Charles and Des Moines trade workers both ways
Des Moines is the top workplace for St. Charles residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in St. Charles come from (22% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
St. Charles is a place people come home to
There are 59 jobs based in St. Charles, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday St. Charles has about 370 people in it, 43% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
St. Charles workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 36 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 276 hours of commuting, 123 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 335 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Out of St. Charles to work: where people go
Where St. Charles clocks in
16% of workers
10% 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.
St. Charles by day and by night
On a workday 333 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 57 people come in from elsewhere.
About 370 people are in St. Charles on a workday afternoon, 43% 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.
About 36 minutes to work from St. Charles
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Charles workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 453 commuters (the 12% 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.
41% of the jobs in St. Charles make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Charles, 2013 → 2023: 96 → 59. 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 St. Charles’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of St. Charles commutes less than 22 miles
About 15% 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.
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 St. Charles: questions
What is the median household income in St. Charles?
$82,841 (±$16,900) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Charles?
7.5%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Charles?
36 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Charles work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Des Moines (23%, 22 mi), West Des Moines (16%, 18 mi), Winterset (10%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around St. Charles without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Charles, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Charles
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.