St. Anthony's Church and School · Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainMaking a living in Cedar Rapids
Home is the office for 3% of workers, next to 11% for Nebraska as a whole. Only 4% work in Cedar Rapids; the top destination outside it is Albion (19%, 12 miles). Working residents average 29 minutes each way, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 138 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 129 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 (0.94 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 people from Cedar Rapids work
Where Cedar Rapids clocks in
5% 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 135 jobs based in Cedar Rapids
135 jobs are based in Cedar Rapids.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cedar Rapids, 2013 → 2023: 141 → 135. 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 Cedar Rapids’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Cedar Rapids: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cedar Rapids workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 219 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Nebraska: 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.
Miles to work from Cedar Rapids
About 28% 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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Cedar Rapids: questions
What is the median household income in Cedar Rapids?
$54,519 (±$22,259) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cedar Rapids?
11.4%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cedar Rapids?
29 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cedar Rapids work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albion (19%, 12 mi), St. Edward (5%, 15 mi), Omaha (5%, 110 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Cedar Rapids without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cedar Rapids, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cedar Rapids
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.