Work & commute · Houghton

Work & commute in Houghton, IA

Most working residents leave Houghton for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Fort Madison (14%), Mount Pleasant (11%) and West Point (7%). Half commute less than 18 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

1 of 57 working residents

Typical commute

18 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 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 56 Houghton residents head out of town to work, 1 work right here, and 46 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Houghton.

56live here, work elsewhere

1live and work here

46work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Houghton goes to work

Fort Madison17.8 mi away

14%8

Mount Pleasant12.8 mi away

11%6

West Point9.5 mi away

7%4

West Burlington22.9 mi away

7%4

Muscatine52.2 mi away

5%3

Carthage, IL35.9 mi away

4%2

Burlington25.5 mi away

4%2

Macomb, IL53.2 mi away

2%1

East Moline, IL81.4 mi away

2%1

Chicago, IL216.3 mi away

2%1

Everywhere elseother towns and states

44%25

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

How far

How far Houghton commutes

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

21%

49%

21%

21%Under 10 mi

49%10–24 mi

9%25–50 mi

21%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Houghton is balanced between jobs and homes

0.82jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Houghton are

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

Jobs based in Houghton

47 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)57%

Trade, transport & utilities0%

Services (health, schools, offices…)43%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month45%

Over $3,333 a month45%

Jobs Houghton residents hold

57 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities33%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month14%

Over $3,333 a month77%

−61%

Jobs based in Houghton, 2013 → 2023: 120 → 47. 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.