Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Where Wiota earns its living
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers; Iowa has 11%. Hardly any stay in Wiota for work; outside it, Atlantic is the main destination (23%, 7 miles). The average commute takes 16 minutes each way (Iowa 20, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Wiota, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 31 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 21 people come in from elsewhere.
About 82 people are in Wiota on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.68 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 Wiota ends
Where Wiota clocks in
23% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
21 jobs are based in Wiota.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wiota, 2013 → 2023: 6 → 21. 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 Wiota’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Wiota’s commute takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wiota workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 34 commuters (the 3% 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 Wiota goes to work
About 45% 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.
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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 0% of Wiota workers work outside Iowa. The job records count 12% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Wiota: questions
What is the median household income in Wiota?
$78,077 (±$18,075) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wiota?
6.4%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wiota?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wiota work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlantic (23%, 7 mi), Anita (6%, 7 mi), Lincoln (6%, 102 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wiota without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wiota, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wiota
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.