Work & commute · Dows

Work & commute in Dows, IA

Most working residents leave Dows for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Clarion (13%), Ames (6%) and Iowa Falls (5%). Half commute less than 22 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

4 of 177 working residents

Typical commute

22 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

27 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 173 Dows residents head out of town to work, 4 work right here, and 33 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Dows.

173live here, work elsewhere

4live and work here

33work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Dows goes to work

Clarion12.6 mi away

13%23

Ames44.1 mi away

6%11

Iowa Falls15.3 mi away

5%8

Belmond14.1 mi away

4%7

Story City32.9 mi away

3%5

Webster City21 mi away

3%5

Fort Dodge35.8 mi away

3%5

Dows (in town)right here

2%4

Des Moines75.2 mi away

2%4

Alexander10.2 mi away

2%3

Everywhere elseother towns and states

58%102

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

How far

How far Dows commutes

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

12%

44%

18%

27%

12%Under 10 mi

44%10–24 mi

18%25–50 mi

27%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Dows is a commuter town

0.21jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.21 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Dows are

37 jobs are based in Dows. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Dows’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Dows

37 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)24%

Trade, transport & utilities32%

Services (health, schools, offices…)43%

$1,250 a month or less24%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month49%

Jobs Dows residents hold

177 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)29%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)46%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month58%

−73%

Jobs based in Dows, 2013 → 2023: 138 → 37. 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.