Photo: Dennis Bratland · CC BY-SA 4.0Urbandale has higher household incomes than 85% of U.S. towns
Urbandale grades A for jobs and income and B for walkability. The poverty rate is 6.8% (Iowa 11.1%). About one in seven stay in Urbandale for work; outside it, Des Moines is the main destination (26%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Urbandale, in brief
A lot of Urbandale works one town over
37% of working residents work in a town that borders Urbandale: Des Moines (26%), Johnston (5%) and Clive (4%). Next door ↓
Most Urbandale residents work close to home
72% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Urbandale’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Urbandale is better than 89% of U.S. towns, #11 of 140 in Iowa. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Urbandale could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Short hops and long hauls from Urbandale
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.
Urbandale by day and by night
On a workday 19,604 residents head out to work, 2,684 work right here, and 25,432 people come in from elsewhere.
About 54,000 people are in Urbandale on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.26 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.
Where people from Urbandale work
Where Urbandale clocks in
20% of workers
5% 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.
68% of the jobs in Urbandale pay over $3,333 a month
28,116 jobs are based in Urbandale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Urbandale, 2013 → 2023: 22,945 → 28,116. 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 Urbandale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Urbandale
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Urbandale workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 20,180 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.
In Urbandale, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Urbandale is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #81 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 24,566 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 42% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, <1% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 2.8% of Urbandale households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Urbandale’s commuters take a bus or train.
Urbandale is 156th of 927 U.S. towns of 34,000 to 66,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Libertyville Township IL | 54,621 | $134K | 6.8% | 3.7% | 20% | A |
| 155 | Middletown Township PA | 45,547 | $114K | 5.4% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| 156 | Urbandale IA | 48,570 | $113K | 6.8% | 2.9% | 12% | A |
| 157 | Brunswick OH | 35,114 | $91K | 6.1% | 2.0% | 10% | A |
| 158 | Perinton NY | 46,823 | $112K | 4.8% | 3.3% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Bettendorf IA | 40,710 | $100K | 6.7% | 2.4% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 288 | Waukee IA | 34,890 | $101K | 7.4% | 3.5% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 351 | Cedar Falls IA | 41,240 | $77K | 15.7% | 3.9% | 36% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 927 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Urbandale, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
37% of Urbandale works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Urbandale workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urbandale | – | A | B | 19 min | $112,795 |
| Grimes | 2% | A+ | B | 20 min | $120,037 |
| Johnston | 5% | A | B+ | 20 min | $106,551 |
| Des Moines | 26% | C+ | A | 20 min | $65,932 |
| Clive | 4% | A | B+ | 21 min | $132,121 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Des Moines. Darker towns draw more of Urbandale’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 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 Urbandale: questions
What is the median household income in Urbandale?
$112,795 (±$8,668) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Urbandale?
6.8%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Urbandale?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Urbandale work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Des Moines (26%, 10 mi), West Des Moines (20%, 6 mi), Ankeny (5%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Urbandale walkable?
Urbandale is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 10.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Urbandale without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. <1% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Urbandale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Urbandale
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.