Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0At 1.0%, unemployment in Tipton is lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Tipton is behind 72% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Tipton are B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four work in Tipton itself; outside it, Iowa City draws the most (16%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Tipton in brief
Tipton trades workers with the towns around it
Tipton has about as many jobs (1,471) as working residents (1,519), but they are mostly different people: 1,103 residents leave for work each day while 1,055 people come in. Only 28% of the jobs in Tipton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Tipton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Tipton is Iowa City, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (242) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Tipton workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 26 minutes each way, against 20 across Iowa. Over a year that’s about 199 hours of commuting, 46 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.
The four measures behind Tipton’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tipton is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #69 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Tipton’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($61,115, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tipton could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Tipton
On a workday 1,103 residents head out to work, 416 work right here, and 1,055 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 (0.97 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Tipton
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.
How long Tipton spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tipton workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,354 commuters (the 9% 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 places Tipton commutes to
Where Tipton clocks in
9% of workers
4% 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.
What Tipton’s employers do
1,471 jobs are based in Tipton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tipton, 2013 → 2023: 1,434 → 1,471. 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 Tipton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Tipton is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tipton is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #33 of 140 in Iowa. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,489 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). 6.3% of Tipton households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tipton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Tipton is 2,112th among 4,771 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 2,110 | Prairieville Township MI | 3,393 | $67K | 7.1% | 3.8% | 4% | B− |
| 2,111 | Geneva NY | 3,564 | $83K | 13.7% | 2.5% | 9% | B− |
| 2,112 | Tipton IA | 3,060 | $61K | 12.3% | 1.0% | 27% | B− |
| 2,113 | Howard Lake MN | 2,288 | $92K | 10.3% | 1.4% | 13% | B− |
| 2,114 | West Point NE | 3,411 | $66K | 7.4% | 0.8% | 39% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Tipton, 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 Tipton: questions
What is the median household income in Tipton?
$61,115 (±$15,198) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tipton?
12.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tipton?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tipton work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Iowa City (16%, 22 mi), Cedar Rapids (9%, 31 mi), Muscatine (4%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tipton walkable?
Tipton is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tipton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tipton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tipton
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.