Photo: Mostly Iowa Edits · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Van Meter earn more than those in 93% of U.S. towns
Only 2% work in Van Meter itself; outside it, West Des Moines draws the most (25%, 9 miles). 2.6% of residents live below the poverty line; Iowa has 11.1%. Jobs and income earn Van Meter A+; getting around on foot earns it C−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Van Meter’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Van Meter is better than 96% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (1.9%) is left out: Van Meter’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Van Meter could be anywhere from A to A+.
Who commutes out of Van Meter, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,105 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 403 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Van Meter on a workday afternoon, 35% fewer than live here.
0.38 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 places Van Meter commutes to
Where Van Meter clocks in
25% of workers
9% 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 the 422 jobs in Van Meter are
422 jobs are based in Van Meter.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Van Meter, 2013 → 2023: 205 → 422. 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 Van Meter’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Van Meter: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Van Meter workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 700 commuters (the 17% 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.
How far Van Meter goes to work
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 Van Meter, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Van Meter is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Van Meter near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 839 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). 3.4% of Van Meter households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Van Meter’s commuters take a bus or train.
Van Meter places 141st of 5,509 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Roxbury WI | 1,796 | $132K | 2.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 140 | Cavalero WA | 1,591 | $148K | 3.5% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| 141 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 142 | Lakeland MN | 1,659 | $100K | 3.3% | 4.9% | 3% | A+ |
| 143 | Chester NJ | 1,689 | $172K | 6.4% | 2.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 346 | Slater IA | 1,617 | $98K | 3.8% | 1.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Van Meter, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
Van Meter and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Waukee (8%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Van Meter’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 Van Meter: questions
What is the median household income in Van Meter?
$135,139 (±$26,179) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Van Meter?
2.6%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Van Meter?
22 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Van Meter work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Des Moines (25%, 9 mi), Des Moines (21%, 18 mi), Urbandale (9%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Van Meter walkable?
Van Meter is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Van Meter without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Van Meter, from the people who make the trip.
More of Van Meter
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.