Photo: Robert Stinnett · CC BY 2.0Most of State Center commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Employers in State Center report 373 jobs for 683 working residents. For jobs and income State Center is better than 69% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (B−). About one in ten work in State Center itself; outside it, Marshalltown draws the most (19%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in State Center: the gist
State Center’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
The poverty rate holds State Center’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.0%) is left out: State Center’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, State Center could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Time on the road from State Center: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of State Center workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 626 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.
The daily commute in and out of State Center
On a workday 617 residents head out to work, 66 work right here, and 307 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in State Center on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
The towns that employ State Center’s residents
Where State Center clocks in
19% of workers
13% 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 State Center: what the 373 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in State Center, 2013 → 2023: 363 → 373. 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 State Center’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from State Center, by distance
About 22% 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.
In State Center, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 766 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). 9.4% of State Center households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of State Center’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, State Center is 1,100th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | University Heights IA | 1,177 | $111K | 14.5% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 136 | Walford IA | 1,359 | $129K | 1.1% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 274 | Slater IA | 1,617 | $98K | 3.8% | 1.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,098 | Jackson Township OH | 1,562 | $93K | 6.1% | 0.3% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,099 | Groveland ID | 1,422 | $76K | 2.0% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,100 | State Center IA | 1,389 | $84K | 4.9% | 2.0% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,101 | Lynden Township MN | 1,871 | $112K | 9.5% | 3.9% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,102 | Brussels WI | 1,089 | $101K | 6.0% | 2.9% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 State Center, 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 State Center: questions
What is the median household income in State Center?
$83,942 (±$25,823) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in State Center?
4.9%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from State Center?
31 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in State Center work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marshalltown (19%, 13 mi), Ames (13%, 23 mi), Des Moines (5%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is State Center walkable?
State Center is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around State Center without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from State Center, from the people who make the trip.
More of State Center
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.