Photo: Scott A. Miller · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Storm Lake are lower than in 69% of U.S. towns
About two in three work in Storm Lake itself; outside it, Sioux City draws the most (2%, 62 miles). 7.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.1% across Iowa. The two grades for Storm Lake 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
Storm Lake and work: the main findings
Commutes from Storm Lake are quick
The average trip to work takes 10 minutes, against 20 across Iowa. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Iowa worker. Time on the road ↓
Storm Lake is where the jobs are
Storm Lake has 8,516 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Storm Lake makes and builds things
46% of the jobs based in Storm Lake are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Storm Lake residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 54%. The jobs ↓
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.
What’s behind Storm Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Storm Lake is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #87 of 140 in Iowa. The poverty rate holds Storm Lake’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($62,765, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Storm Lake could be anywhere from C− to B+.
How long Storm Lake spends getting to work: about 10 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Storm Lake workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,390 commuters (the 4% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Storm Lake
On a workday 1,656 residents head out to work, 3,305 work right here, and 5,211 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Storm Lake on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
46% of the jobs in Storm Lake make or build things
8,516 jobs are based in Storm Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Storm Lake, 2014 → 2024: 7,377 → 8,516. 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 Storm Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Storm Lake
Where Storm Lake clocks in
2% of workers
2% 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.
Where in the region Storm Lake works
About 20% 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.
Storm Lake is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Storm Lake is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #23 of 140 in Iowa. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,633 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). 1.9% of Storm Lake households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Storm Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000, Storm Lake comes 1,828th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 182 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 498 | Norwalk IA | 15,004 | $103K | 4.2% | 3.4% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 641 | Sioux Center IA | 8,864 | $93K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 49% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,826 | Sandpoint ID | 10,645 | $72K | 14.6% | 2.5% | 43% | C+ |
| 1,827 | Martinsville IN | 12,141 | $60K | 12.9% | 4.4% | 18% | C+ |
| 1,828 | Storm Lake IA | 11,590 | $63K | 7.0% | 4.4% | 67% | C+ |
| 1,829 | Excelsior Springs MO | 10,819 | $73K | 15.2% | 5.0% | 18% | C+ |
| 1,830 | Newfane NY | 9,139 | $75K | 10.0% | 5.8% | 13% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 19% | 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 Storm Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Work in the towns next to Storm Lake
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Storm Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storm Lake | – | C+ | A− | 10 min | $62,765 |
| Lakeside | under 1% | — | — | 13 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lakeside: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Storm Lake’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 Storm Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Storm Lake?
$62,765 (±$16,358) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Storm Lake?
7.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Storm Lake?
10 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Storm Lake work?
67% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sioux City (2%, 62 mi), Holstein (2%, 21 mi), Waterloo (2%, 145 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Storm Lake walkable?
Storm Lake is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Storm Lake 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 Storm Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Storm Lake
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.