Photo: en:User:Cburnett · CC BY-SA 3.0At 3.0%, unemployment in Winterset is lower than in 70% of U.S. towns
Winterset grades B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four stay in Winterset for work; outside it, Des Moines is the main destination (13%, 26 miles). The trip to work takes 24 minutes on average; Iowa averages 20, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Winterset and work: the main findings
Winterset trades workers with the towns around it
Winterset has about as many jobs (2,195) as working residents (2,315), but they are mostly different people: 1,684 residents leave for work each day while 1,564 people come in. Only 29% of the jobs in Winterset are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Winterset’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Winterset is Des Moines, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (293) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
The figures behind Winterset’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Winterset is better than 53% of U.S. towns, #70 of 140 in Iowa. Unemployment holds Winterset’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($67,708, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Winterset could be anywhere from C− to A−.
How many people are in Winterset by day
On a workday 1,684 residents head out to work, 631 work right here, and 1,564 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 (0.95 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 Winterset’s workers travel
About 15% 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.
Where Winterset’s working residents head each day
Where Winterset clocks in
12% 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 2,195 jobs based in Winterset
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winterset, 2013 → 2023: 2,101 → 2,195. 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 Winterset’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Winterset: about 24 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winterset workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,258 commuters (the 14% 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.
Winterset is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Winterset is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #56 of 140 in Iowa. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.8% 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 2,637 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). 12.5% of Winterset households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Winterset’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,796th of 3,502: where Winterset ranks among U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,500
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Eldridge IA | 6,954 | $106K | 1.3% | 1.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 203 | Asbury IA | 6,035 | $125K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 238 | Huxley IA | 4,715 | $112K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,794 | Lincoln Village CA | 4,241 | $96K | 12.5% | 6.8% | 2% | B− |
| 1,795 | Social Circle GA | 5,537 | $89K | 6.7% | 6.6% | 9% | B− |
| 1,796 | Winterset IA | 5,520 | $68K | 10.3% | 3.0% | 27% | B− |
| 1,797 | Baldwin City KS | 4,946 | $73K | 5.8% | 6.1% | 15% | B− |
| 1,798 | Carolina Shores NC | 5,540 | $76K | 3.9% | 3.9% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,502 | 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 Winterset, 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 Winterset: questions
What is the median household income in Winterset?
$67,708 (±$16,911) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winterset?
10.3%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winterset?
24 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winterset work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Des Moines (13%, 26 mi), West Des Moines (12%, 19 mi), Urbandale (4%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winterset walkable?
Winterset is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winterset without a car?
0% 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 Winterset, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winterset
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.