Work & commute · St. Lucas

Work & commute in St. Lucas, IA

Most working residents leave St. Lucas for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are West Union (17%), New Hampton (6%) and Decorah (4%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

2 of 83 working residents

Typical commute

17 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

26 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 81 St. Lucas residents head out of town to work, 2 work right here, and 54 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Lucas.

81live here, work elsewhere

2live and work here

54work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Lucas goes to work

West Union9.6 mi away

17%14

New Hampton19.2 mi away

6%5

Decorah17.9 mi away

4%3

Dubuque73.5 mi away

4%3

St. Lucas (in town)right here

2%2

Hawkeye8.9 mi away

2%2

Maynard20.5 mi away

2%2

Calmar8.6 mi away

2%2

Sumner17.1 mi away

2%2

Oelwein27.3 mi away

2%2

Everywhere elseother towns and states

55%46

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

How far

How far St. Lucas commutes

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

32%

35%

15%

18%

32%Under 10 mi

35%10–24 mi

15%25–50 mi

18%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Lucas is a commuter town

0.67jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Lucas are

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

Jobs based in St. Lucas

56 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)41%

Trade, transport & utilities7%

Services (health, schools, offices…)52%

$1,250 a month or less39%

$1,251–$3,333 a month14%

Over $3,333 a month46%

Jobs St. Lucas residents hold

83 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month65%

+124%

Jobs based in St. Lucas, 2013 → 2023: 25 → 56. 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.