Work & commute · Lake Mills

Work & commute in Lake Mills, IA

About one in 4 of Lake Mills’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Forest City (21%), Mason City (5%) and Des Moines (2%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

25%

245 of 984 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

15 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 739 Lake Mills residents head out of town to work, 245 work right here, and 921 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lake Mills.

739live here, work elsewhere

245live and work here

921work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lake Mills goes to work

Lake Mills (in town)right here

25%245

Forest City12.2 mi away

21%203

Mason City25 mi away

5%54

Des Moines127.5 mi away

2%22

Clear Lake21 mi away

2%18

Albert Lea, MN18.4 mi away

2%18

Garner22.2 mi away

2%17

Northwood15.9 mi away

2%16

Cedar Rapids137.6 mi away

2%16

Ames96.2 mi away

1%12

Everywhere elseother towns and states

37%363

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

How far

How far Lake Mills commutes

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

32%

36%

26%

32%Under 10 mi

36%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

26%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lake Mills is balanced between jobs and homes

1.18jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Lake Mills are

1,166 jobs are based in Lake Mills. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Mills’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lake Mills

1,166 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)29%

Trade, transport & utilities28%

Services (health, schools, offices…)43%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month52%

Jobs Lake Mills residents hold

984 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)32%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month53%

−16%

Jobs based in Lake Mills, 2013 → 2023: 1,383 → 1,166. 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.