Work & commute · Cedar Falls

Work & commute in Cedar Falls, IA

About one in 3 of Cedar Falls’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Waterloo (33%), Cedar Rapids (3%) and Waverly (2%). Half commute less than 5 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

36%

5,789 of 16,064 working residents

Typical commute

5 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

14 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 10,275 Cedar Falls residents head out of town to work, 5,789 work right here, and 16,353 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cedar Falls.

10,275live here, work elsewhere

5,789live and work here

16,353work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cedar Falls goes to work

Cedar Falls (in town)right here

36%5,789

Waterloo5.5 mi away

33%5,250

Cedar Rapids55.1 mi away

3%472

Waverly14 mi away

2%377

Des Moines88.3 mi away

2%351

West Des Moines95.5 mi away

1%169

Iowa City76.2 mi away

1%138

Dubuque89 mi away

1%133

Davenport115.9 mi away

1%121

Ankeny80.1 mi away

1%116

Everywhere elseother towns and states

20%3,148

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Cedar Falls commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

70%

21%

70%Under 10 mi

6%10–24 mi

3%25–50 mi

21%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cedar Falls is balanced between jobs and homes

1.38jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Cedar Falls are

22,142 jobs are based in Cedar Falls. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cedar Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Cedar Falls

22,142 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities32%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month51%

Jobs Cedar Falls residents hold

16,064 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)60%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month61%

+13%

Jobs based in Cedar Falls, 2013 → 2023: 19,589 → 22,142. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.