Work & commute · What Cheer

Work & commute in What Cheer, IA

Most working residents leave What Cheer for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Sigourney (7%), Oskaloosa (6%) and Williamsburg (5%). Half commute less than 27 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

2 of 245 working residents

Typical commute

27 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

30 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 243 What Cheer residents head out of town to work, 2 work right here, and 27 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in What Cheer.

243live here, work elsewhere

2live and work here

27work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where What Cheer goes to work

Sigourney9.1 mi away

7%18

Oskaloosa16.5 mi away

6%15

Williamsburg25.7 mi away

5%13

Des Moines65.9 mi away

4%9

North English16.6 mi away

3%8

Ottumwa26.3 mi away

2%6

Homestead35.4 mi away

2%6

Fairfield34 mi away

2%5

Victor23 mi away

2%4

Kalona34.5 mi away

2%4

Everywhere elseother towns and states

64%157

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

How far

How far What Cheer commutes

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

15%

24%

36%

25%

15%Under 10 mi

24%10–24 mi

36%25–50 mi

25%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

What Cheer is a commuter town

0.12jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in What Cheer are

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

Jobs based in What Cheer

29 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)0%

Trade, transport & utilities62%

Services (health, schools, offices…)38%

$1,250 a month or less28%

$1,251–$3,333 a month48%

Over $3,333 a month24%

Jobs What Cheer residents hold

245 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)35%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)46%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month59%

−3%

Jobs based in What Cheer, 2013 → 2023: 30 → 29. 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.