Des Moines has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Jobs and income earn Des Moines B−; getting around on foot earns it A. There are 5,760 jobs in Des Moines, and 13,994 of its residents work somewhere. Only 4% work in Des Moines itself; outside it, Seattle draws the most (25%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Des Moines stands out on work
What’s behind Des Moines’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Des Moines is better than 55% of U.S. towns, #172 of 285 in Washington. Job access by car holds Des Moines’ grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Des Moines could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
65% of the jobs in Des Moines pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Des Moines, 2013 → 2023: 3,952 → 5,760. 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 Des Moines’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Des Moines on a workday
On a workday 13,501 residents head out to work, 493 work right here, and 5,267 people come in from elsewhere.
About 25,000 people are in Des Moines on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
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 Des Moines goes to work
Where Des Moines clocks in
25% of workers
8% 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.
How long Des Moines spends getting to work: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Des Moines workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,777 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The distance from Des Moines to work
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.
Des Moines is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,987 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 95% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 16% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 26.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, among the most of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.4% of Des Moines households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Des Moines’ commuters take a bus or train.
Des Moines is 837th of 1,315 U.S. towns of 23,000 to 45,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Mercer Island WA | 25,422 | $219K | 3.8% | 3.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Issaquah WA | 39,423 | $155K | 5.2% | 3.3% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Edmonds WA | 42,748 | $122K | 3.8% | 4.1% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 835 | Duncanville TX | 38,915 | $76K | 10.6% | 7.1% | 6% | B− |
| 836 | South Salt Lake UT | 26,934 | $72K | 15.8% | 4.3% | 7% | B− |
| 837 | Des Moines WA | 33,032 | $92K | 12.1% | 7.5% | 4% | B− |
| 838 | Cockeysville MD | 23,962 | $78K | 12.6% | 5.3% | 14% | B− |
| 839 | Ruskin FL | 29,834 | $79K | 10.8% | 4.5% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,315 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Des Moines, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Des Moines and its neighbors: 22% work next door
The biggest share goes to SeaTac (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Des Moines workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Des Moines | – | B− | A | 31 min | $92,483 |
| Federal Way | under 4% | B | A | 32 min | $86,909 |
| Kent | 8% | B | A | 30 min | $92,302 |
| SeaTac | 9% | B | A+ | 25 min | $81,104 |
| Normandy Park | under 4% | A+ | A | 25 min | $162,476 |
| Burien | 5% | B | A+ | 27 min | $91,318 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Des Moines’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 Des Moines: questions
What is the median household income in Des Moines?
$92,483 (±$8,944) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Des Moines?
12.1%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Des Moines?
31 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Des Moines work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (25%, 16 mi), SeaTac (9%, 4 mi), Kent (8%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Des Moines walkable?
Des Moines is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Des Moines without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 16% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Des Moines, from the people who make the trip.
More of Des Moines
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.