Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Tama (7.5%) than in 86% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Tama for work; outside it, Toledo is the main destination (9%, 2 miles). Tama grades D for jobs and income and C for walkability. 24.0% of residents are in poverty, where Iowa as a whole has 11.1%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Tama
Tama trades workers with the towns around it
Tama has about as many jobs (1,362) as working residents (1,348), but they are mostly different people: 1,134 residents leave for work each day while 1,148 people come in. Only 16% of the jobs in Tama are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Tama makes and builds things
60% of the jobs based in Tama are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Tama residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 32%. The jobs ↓
Tama has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Tama went from 765 in 2013 to 1,362 in 2023, +78%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Tama pay over $40,000 a year
73% of the jobs based in Tama 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Tama’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tama is better than 13% of U.S. towns, #133 of 140 in Iowa. Household income holds Tama’s grade up ($68,661, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tama could be anywhere from D to C+.
A workday in Tama: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,134 residents head out to work, 214 work right here, and 1,148 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 (1.01 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.
Goods, not services: 60% of the jobs in Tama
1,362 jobs are based in Tama.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tama, 2013 → 2023: 765 → 1,362. 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 Tama’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Tama work
Where Tama clocks in
9% of workers
7% 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.
Getting to work from Tama takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tama workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,175 commuters (the 6% 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 Tama commutes less than 18 miles
About 26% 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.
Driving is how Tama gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tama is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns, #136 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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 1,247 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). 4.3% of Tama households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tama’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tama places 4,116th of 4,771 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 146 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 188 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 236 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,114 | Woodville FL | 3,722 | $54K | 17.4% | 6.1% | 2% | D |
| 4,115 | Houston AK | 2,267 | $73K | 18.8% | 12.0% | — | D |
| 4,116 | Tama IA | 3,011 | $69K | 24.0% | 7.5% | 16% | D |
| 4,117 | Sebring OH | 4,065 | $50K | 20.3% | 12.2% | 15% | D |
| 4,118 | Dewey OK | 3,450 | $43K | 23.0% | 4.7% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | 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 Tama, 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 Tama: questions
What is the median household income in Tama?
$68,661 (±$5,435) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tama?
24.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tama?
20 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tama work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Toledo (9%, 2 mi), Marshalltown (7%, 18 mi), Grinnell (6%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tama walkable?
Tama is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tama without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tama, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tama
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.