Work & commute · Grimes

Work & commute in Grimes, IA

Most working residents leave Grimes for work: only 9% work in town. The top destinations are Des Moines (21%), West Des Moines (18%) and Urbandale (10%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

783 of 8,618 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

22%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 7,835 Grimes residents head out of town to work, 783 work right here, and 7,085 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Grimes.

7,835live here, work elsewhere

783live and work here

7,085work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Grimes goes to work

Des Moines12.3 mi away

21%1,772

West Des Moines8.9 mi away

18%1,532

Urbandale3.1 mi away

10%869

Grimes (in town)right here

9%783

Johnston4.1 mi away

7%640

Ankeny11 mi away

6%499

Clive4.5 mi away

4%322

Waukee7.3 mi away

2%196

Ames25.8 mi away

2%175

Altoona16.7 mi away

1%85

Everywhere elseother towns and states

20%1,745

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

How far

How far Grimes commutes

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

60%

28%

60%Under 10 mi

28%10–24 mi

3%25–50 mi

9%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Grimes is balanced between jobs and homes

0.91jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.91 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Grimes are

7,868 jobs are based in Grimes. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Grimes’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Grimes

7,868 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)27%

Trade, transport & utilities41%

Services (health, schools, offices…)31%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month58%

Jobs Grimes residents hold

8,618 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month17%

Over $3,333 a month71%

+87%

Jobs based in Grimes, 2013 → 2023: 4,199 → 7,868. 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.