Work & commute · Pleasant Hill

Work & commute in Pleasant Hill, IA

Most working residents leave Pleasant Hill for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Des Moines (36%), West Des Moines (12%) and Ankeny (8%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

149 of 4,961 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,812 Pleasant Hill residents head out of town to work, 149 work right here, and 2,984 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Pleasant Hill.

4,812live here, work elsewhere

149live and work here

2,984work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Pleasant Hill goes to work

Des Moines5.7 mi away

36%1,769

West Des Moines14.7 mi away

12%582

Ankeny10.4 mi away

8%384

Urbandale14.4 mi away

5%256

Altoona3.8 mi away

5%238

Pleasant Hill (in town)right here

3%149

Ames30.1 mi away

2%117

Johnston13 mi away

2%103

Clive15.3 mi away

2%93

Bondurant7.6 mi away

2%80

Everywhere elseother towns and states

24%1,190

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

How far

How far Pleasant Hill commutes

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

55%

30%

10%

55%Under 10 mi

30%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

10%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Pleasant Hill is a commuter town

0.63jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Pleasant Hill are

3,133 jobs are based in Pleasant Hill. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Pleasant Hill’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Pleasant Hill

3,133 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)26%

Trade, transport & utilities28%

Services (health, schools, offices…)46%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month56%

Jobs Pleasant Hill residents hold

4,961 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)17%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month18%

Over $3,333 a month69%

+23%

Jobs based in Pleasant Hill, 2013 → 2023: 2,556 → 3,133. 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.