Work & commute · St. Charles

Work & commute in St. Charles, IA

Most working residents leave St. Charles for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Des Moines (23%), West Des Moines (16%) and Winterset (10%). Half commute less than 22 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

2 of 335 working residents

Typical commute

22 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

36 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

12%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 333 St. Charles residents head out of town to work, 2 work right here, and 57 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Charles.

333live here, work elsewhere

2live and work here

57work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Charles goes to work

Des Moines22.2 mi away

23%77

West Des Moines18.2 mi away

16%53

Winterset11.4 mi away

10%35

Waukee21.3 mi away

4%13

Urbandale24.2 mi away

4%12

Ankeny32.5 mi away

3%10

Johnston28.3 mi away

2%8

Clive22.5 mi away

2%7

Grimes27 mi away

2%6

Cedar Rapids119.5 mi away

2%6

Everywhere elseother towns and states

32%108

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

How far

How far St. Charles commutes

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

64%

17%

15%

4%Under 10 mi

64%10–24 mi

17%25–50 mi

15%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Charles is a commuter town

0.18jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Charles are

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

Jobs based in St. Charles

59 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)41%

Trade, transport & utilities31%

Services (health, schools, offices…)29%

$1,250 a month or less27%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month46%

Jobs St. Charles residents hold

335 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)22%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)55%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month69%

−39%

Jobs based in St. Charles, 2013 → 2023: 96 → 59. 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.