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Work & commute in Eagle Grove · Balanced

Every workday, about 660 people come to Eagle Grove for work, and 980 head out

About one in 3 of Eagle Grove’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Fort Dodge (7%), Clarion (6%) and Webster City (4%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Work in town
30%
413 of 1,390 working residents
Typical commute
10 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
23 min
More than IA (20 min)
Work from home
8%
Less than IA (11%)
Jobs based here
1,072
Balanced

What kind of work town is Eagle Grove?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The jobs

Eagle Grove makes things: 35% of its jobs are in goods

1,072 jobs are based in Eagle Grove. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Eagle Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Eagle GroveJobs Eagle Grove residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms35%38%
Trade, transport & utilities18%18%
Services: health, schools, offices46%45%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less18%17%
$1,251–$3,333 a month23%24%
Over $3,333 a month59%59%

Who does it

29 or younger23%26%
30 to 5450%52%
55 and older27%22%
−5%

Jobs based in Eagle Grove, 2013 → 2023: 1,134 → 1,072. 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.

Day and night

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 977 residents head out to work, 413 work right here, and 659 people come in from elsewhere.

977live here, work elsewhere
413live and work here
659work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night3,600
Workday3,300
3,600live here− 980head out to work+ 660come in to work= 3,300on a workday

About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.77jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (0.77 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.

The commute map

7% of working residents work in Fort Dodge

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

WoolstockGoldfield: 24 residents work here (2%)BelmondClarion: 81 residents work here (6%)Eagle GroveHumboldt: 15 residents work here (1%)Webster City: 60 residents work here (4%)Fort Dodge: 104 residents work here (7%)Ames: 14 residents work here (1%)Mason City: 14 residents work here (1%)Des Moines: 32 residents work here (2%)West Des Moines: 15 residents work here (1%)Sioux CityFort DodgeClarionWebster CityDes MoinesGoldfieldHumboldtEagle Grove
1
Eagle Grove (in town)right here
30%413
2
Fort Dodge17.6 mi away
7%104
3
Clarion9.9 mi away
6%81
4
Webster City14.7 mi away
4%60
5
Des Moines77 mi away
2%32
6
Goldfield4.9 mi away
2%24
7
Humboldt16.8 mi away
1%15
8
West Des Moines77.4 mi away
1%15
9
Ames46.5 mi away
1%14
10
Mason City48.7 mi away
1%14
Everywhere elseother towns and states
44%618
The top trips

Where Eagle Grove clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

How far

Half of Eagle Grove commutes less than 10 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miFort Dodge: 7% · 17.6 miClarion: 6% · 9.9 miWebster City: 4% · 14.7 miDes Moines: 2% · 77 miGoldfield: 2% · 4.9 miHumboldt: 1% · 16.8 miWest Des Moines: 1% · 77.4 miAmes: 1% · 46.5 miMason City: 1% · 48.7 miFort Dodge 7%Clarion 6%Webster City 4%Des Moines 2%Goldfield 2%Eagle Grove
Eagle GroveTop destinations (size = commuters)
52%Under 10 mi717 residents
21%10–24 mi292 residents
7%25–50 mi104 residents
20%Over 50 mi274 residents

About 20% 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.

Time on the road

About 23 minutes each way, longer than most of Iowa

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
175 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Eagle Grove23 min
Iowa20 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
8%

of Eagle Grove workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10

How Eagle Grove ranks on commute time →

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Eagle Grove

Eagle Grove home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Eagle Grove, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Eagle Grove worth it?

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Ask neighbors

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.

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