Photo: Thrive Allen County · CC BY-SA 4.0More people are out of work in Iola (8.4%) than in 90% of U.S. towns
Iola grades C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. Measured by household income, Iola is behind 82% of U.S. towns. About one in three work in Iola itself; outside it, Humboldt draws the most (7%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Iola apart
Inside Iola’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Iola is better than 17% of U.S. towns, #140 of 151 in Kansas. The poverty rate holds Iola’s grade up (8.6%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Iola could be anywhere from D to C+.
Iola’s commute, mile by mile
About 36% 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.
Iola by day and by night
On a workday 1,487 residents head out to work, 883 work right here, and 2,334 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,100 people are in Iola on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.36 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.
Where Iola’s working residents head each day
Where Iola clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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 work there is in Iola: 3,217 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Iola, 2013 → 2023: 3,365 → 3,217. 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 Iola’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 17 minutes to work from Iola
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Iola workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,227 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 85% 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.
Iola is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Iola is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #8 of 151 in Kansas. Both inputs place Iola near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,340 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). 11.4% of Iola households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Iola’s commuters take a bus or train.
Iola is 3,065th of 3,582 U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,100 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Fairway KS | 4,181 | $153K | 3.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Aubry Township KS | 4,719 | $134K | 0.7% | 1.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 141 | Pleasant Township KS | 5,459 | $113K | 0.8% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,063 | Scissors TX | 4,267 | $41K | 33.0% | 5.8% | 0% | C− |
| 3,064 | Homestead Meadows South TX | 6,660 | $49K | 24.2% | 7.3% | 2% | C− |
| 3,065 | Iola KS | 5,240 | $54K | 8.6% | 8.4% | 37% | C− |
| 3,066 | Lee Township MI | 3,836 | $65K | 18.7% | 5.6% | 2% | C− |
| 3,067 | Wellsville NY | 6,859 | $63K | 16.0% | 5.6% | 34% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,582 | 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 Iola, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
Next door to Iola
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Iola workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iola | – | C− | A | 17 min | $54,221 |
| Iola Township | under 2% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Bassett | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Iola Township and Bassett: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Iola’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Iola: questions
What is the median household income in Iola?
$54,221 (±$4,939) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Iola?
8.6%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Iola?
17 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Iola work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Humboldt (7%, 8 mi), Chanute (6%, 18 mi), Arkansas City (4%, 108 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Iola walkable?
Iola is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Iola without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Iola, from the people who make the trip.
More of Iola
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.