Work & commute · Palo

Work & commute in Palo, IA

Most working residents leave Palo for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Cedar Rapids (58%), Iowa City (5%) and Hiawatha (5%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10 of 680 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

15%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 670 Palo residents head out of town to work, 10 work right here, and 219 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Palo.

670live here, work elsewhere

10live and work here

219work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Palo goes to work

Cedar Rapids9.3 mi away

58%393

Iowa City31.4 mi away

5%35

Hiawatha5.6 mi away

5%33

Marion11 mi away

3%23

North Liberty24.2 mi away

2%14

Coralville27.3 mi away

2%14

Palo (in town)right here

1%10

Des Moines99.2 mi away

1%10

Homestead21.3 mi away

1%8

Dubuque63.4 mi away

1%7

Everywhere elseother towns and states

20%133

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

How far

How far Palo commutes

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

51%

27%

10%

12%

51%Under 10 mi

27%10–24 mi

10%25–50 mi

12%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Palo is a commuter town

0.34jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Palo are

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

Jobs based in Palo

229 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)33%

Trade, transport & utilities31%

Services (health, schools, offices…)36%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month43%

Jobs Palo residents hold

680 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)26%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month71%

+92%

Jobs based in Palo, 2013 → 2023: 119 → 229. 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.