Commercial Hotel · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWork, pay and getting to work in Wapello
5% of workers have no commute at all, against 11% across Iowa. Wapello grades B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in seven work in Wapello itself; outside it, Muscatine draws the most (12%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wapello’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Wapello is better than 47% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Wapello’s grade up (6.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.5%) is left out: Wapello’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, Wapello could be anywhere from C− to B+.
A workday in Wapello: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 803 residents head out to work, 157 work right here, and 455 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Wapello on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.64 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.
Where the trip to work from Wapello ends
Where Wapello clocks in
12% of workers
4% 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.
The 612 jobs based in Wapello
612 jobs are based in Wapello.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wapello, 2013 → 2023: 741 → 612. 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 Wapello’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Wapello: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wapello workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 833 commuters (the 5% 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 Wapello’s workers travel
About 17% 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.
Getting around Wapello: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wapello is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 879 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). 12.3% of Wapello households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Wapello’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,509 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700, Wapello comes 2,404th on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 141 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 2,402 | Arnold CA | 2,482 | $92K | 4.2% | 5.4% | 7% | B− |
| 2,403 | Frankton IN | 1,827 | $69K | 9.2% | 3.3% | 6% | B− |
| 2,404 | Wapello IA | 1,979 | $73K | 6.4% | 3.5% | 16% | B− |
| 2,405 | Nicoma Park OK | 2,294 | $62K | 17.8% | 3.5% | 2% | B− |
| 2,406 | Kimball TN | 1,633 | $61K | 6.9% | 1.0% | 7% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Wapello, 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 Wapello: questions
What is the median household income in Wapello?
$72,708 (±$24,902) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wapello?
6.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wapello?
24 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wapello work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Muscatine (12%, 18 mi), Burlington (4%, 26 mi), Mediapolis (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wapello walkable?
Wapello is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wapello without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wapello, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wapello
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.