Webster City Post Office · Photo: Ann Sullivan-Larson · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Webster City (7.0%) is higher than in 82% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 4% of workers, where Iowa as a whole has 11%. For jobs and income Webster City is better than 28% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). About two in five work in Webster City itself; outside it, Fort Dodge draws the most (7%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Webster City apart
What’s behind Webster City’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Webster City’s grade up (8.6%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Webster City could be anywhere from D to B−.
From Webster City, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Webster City workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,504 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.
In and out of Webster City on a workday
On a workday 2,147 residents head out to work, 1,331 work right here, and 1,899 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 (0.93 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Webster City’s working residents head each day
Where Webster City clocks in
7% 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 Webster City’s employers do
3,230 jobs are based in Webster City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Webster City, 2014 → 2024: 3,417 → 3,230. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Webster City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Webster City’s commute, mile by mile
About 20% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Webster City is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 3,632 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). 7.3% of Webster City households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Webster City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Webster City next to U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,600: 2,362nd of 3,026 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 182 | Bondurant IA | 9,647 | $136K | 6.2% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 209 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,360 | Milton PA | 6,457 | $55K | 15.2% | 5.3% | 15% | C |
| 2,361 | Geneva Township IN | 7,613 | $70K | 13.0% | 5.8% | 2% | C |
| 2,362 | Webster City IA | 7,815 | $63K | 8.6% | 7.0% | 38% | C |
| 2,363 | Beacon Square FL | 7,895 | $57K | 15.6% | 5.8% | 1% | C |
| 2,364 | Greenville MI | 9,256 | $63K | 11.5% | 7.4% | 18% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,026 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Webster City, 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 2024, 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 Webster City: questions
What is the median household income in Webster City?
$63,430 (±$13,544) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Webster City?
8.6%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Webster City?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Webster City work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Dodge (7%, 18 mi), Ames (4%, 32 mi), Clarion (2%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Webster City walkable?
Webster City is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Webster City without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Webster City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Webster City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.