Work & commute · Pocahontas

Work & commute in Pocahontas, IA

About one in 3 of Pocahontas’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Laurens (5%), Fort Dodge (5%) and Humboldt (5%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

37%

287 of 786 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

14 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 499 Pocahontas residents head out of town to work, 287 work right here, and 680 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Pocahontas.

499live here, work elsewhere

287live and work here

680work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Pocahontas goes to work

Pocahontas (in town)right here

37%287

Laurens12 mi away

5%39

Fort Dodge29.5 mi away

5%39

Humboldt22.4 mi away

5%38

Des Moines96.9 mi away

3%26

Rolfe8.6 mi away

2%18

Algona32.1 mi away

2%12

Emmetsburg26.1 mi away

1%11

West Des Moines93.7 mi away

1%10

Carroll47.2 mi away

1%9

Everywhere elseother towns and states

38%297

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

How far

How far Pocahontas commutes

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

44%

20%

16%

21%

44%Under 10 mi

20%10–24 mi

16%25–50 mi

21%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Pocahontas is balanced between jobs and homes

1.23jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Pocahontas are

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

Jobs based in Pocahontas

967 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)72%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month51%

Jobs Pocahontas residents hold

786 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)20%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)57%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month53%

+8%

Jobs based in Pocahontas, 2013 → 2023: 892 → 967. 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.