Photo: Torindkflt. · CC BY 3.0Vinton has lower unemployment (2.5%) than 77% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Vinton itself; outside it, Cedar Rapids draws the most (21%, 22 miles). Jobs and income earn Vinton B−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, against 11% across Iowa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Vinton: the figures worth knowing
Vinton trades workers with the towns around it
Vinton has about as many jobs (1,822) as working residents (2,143), but they are mostly different people: 1,584 residents leave for work each day while 1,263 people come in. Only 31% of the jobs in Vinton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Vinton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Vinton is Cedar Rapids, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (460) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Vinton workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 11% across Iowa. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Vinton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Vinton is better than 49% of U.S. towns, #76 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Vinton’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (12.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Vinton could be anywhere from C− to B+.
How many people are in Vinton by day
On a workday 1,584 residents head out to work, 559 work right here, and 1,263 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 (0.85 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.
How far Vinton’s workers travel
About 21% 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.
Time on the road from Vinton: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vinton workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,235 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.
Where Vinton’s working residents head each day
Where Vinton clocks in
21% 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.
Jobs in Vinton: what the 1,822 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vinton, 2013 → 2023: 1,941 → 1,822. 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 Vinton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Vinton is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vinton is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #31 of 140 in Iowa. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,322 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). 9.0% of Vinton households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Vinton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Vinton is 2,077th of 3,758 U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 242 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 321 | Windsor Heights IA | 5,059 | $92K | 6.2% | 1.4% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,075 | Towamensing Township PA | 4,610 | $69K | 6.5% | 5.0% | 4% | B− |
| 2,076 | Odenville AL | 6,023 | $70K | 15.0% | 3.3% | 3% | B− |
| 2,077 | Vinton IA | 5,004 | $66K | 12.6% | 2.5% | 26% | B− |
| 2,078 | Calcutta OH | 4,754 | $59K | 9.1% | 3.1% | 7% | B− |
| 2,079 | West Reading PA | 4,590 | $66K | 14.8% | 4.6% | 11% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | 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 Vinton, 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 Vinton: questions
What is the median household income in Vinton?
$66,495 (±$7,628) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vinton?
12.6%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vinton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vinton work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedar Rapids (21%, 22 mi), Waterloo (4%, 28 mi), Des Moines (3%, 91 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vinton walkable?
Vinton is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vinton without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vinton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vinton
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.