These Are The 10 Laziest Places In Iowa

By Chris Kolmar
Apr. 13, 2016

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Everyone hates the lazy person in the office. The guy or gal who manages to offload all of their work to you, but somehow still takes the credit for it.

And if you live in one of these Iowa towns, you might look in the mirror and see that lazy person staring right back at you.

We’re not trying to be mean; it’s just that the lazy ethos can penetrate from the location into the workplace and no one wants to work with lazy people.

So we got to work late on a Friday night to figure out the places around Iowa that spend the day on Reddit and get by with the bare minimum. Using data from the latest American Community Survey, we identified criteria associated with laziness for each city.

After crunching all the numbers, here are the ten “Laziest Places in Iowa” based on data:

  1. Red Oak
  2. Keokuk
  3. Iowa Falls
  4. Ottumwa
  5. Burlington
  6. Fort Dodge
  7. Clarinda
  8. Winterset
  9. Anamosa
  10. Fort Madison

Read on to see where the couch potatoes call home or skip to the end to find where your town ranked.

Oh, and by the way, North Liberty is the hardest-working place in IA.

How We Determined The Laziest Places In The Hawkeye State

Like all problems here at Zippia, we start with the data to answer the hard questions. Some might even consider us the hardest working data-crunchers this side of the Mississippi.

In this particular case, we went to the latest version of the American Community Survey looking for answers. As luck would have it, the Census Bureau just released the 2010-2014 5-Yr Estimate which would make this analysis the first of it’s kind with the new data.

After scrolling through what seemed like hundreds of criteria, we settled on this set for the laziest places in Iowa:

  • Lowest average hours worked
  • Shortest commute time
  • Fewest workers per household (Labor force divided by the number households)
  • Highest unemployment rate
  • Fewest adults with a college degree

Our thinking went something along the lines of if you can’t bother to go college, don’t spend any time at work, and have only one person per household bringing home the bacon, your town is probably pretty lazy.

After we got the data for the 80 places in Iowa over 5,000 people, we ranked each place from 1 to 80 for each of the criteria with 1 being the “laziest”.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each to create a lazy index.

Finally, we crowned the place with the lowest lazy index the “Laziest Place In Iowa”. And, at the end of the day, Red Oak slacked off its way to the top.

Read the detailed chart below to learn a bit more about why each place ranked where it did.

1. Red Oak

Population: 5,644College Educated: 14.0%
Unemployment Rate: 13.4%

2. Keokuk

Population: 10,742College Educated: 16.3%
Unemployment Rate: 9.8%

3. Iowa Falls

Population: 5,193College Educated: 18.4%
Unemployment Rate: 9.3%

4. Ottumwa

Population: 24,847College Educated: 15.0%
Unemployment Rate: 10.1%

5. Burlington

Population: 25,559College Educated: 20.9%
Unemployment Rate: 8.6%

6. Fort Dodge

Population: 24,846College Educated: 20.8%
Unemployment Rate: 10.7%

7. Clarinda

Population: 5,490 College Educated: 18.5%
Unemployment Rate: 6.5%

8. Winterset

Population: 5,165College Educated: 15.1%
Unemployment Rate: 11.0%

9. Anamosa

Population: 5,526College Educated: 9.9%
Unemployment Rate: 13.2%

10. Fort Madison

Population: 10,929College Educated: 13.1%
Unemployment Rate: 10.2%

Slacking Your Way Off To The Bottom

Like we said earlier, trying to determine the laziest places in Iowa is usually a subjective matter. But if you’re analyzing cities where people don’t work, where a good education is rare, and no one’s willing to put in the long hours, then this is an accurate list of laziness.

Detailed List Of The Laziest Places In Iowa

City Rank Population College Educated Unemployment Rate
Red Oak 1 5,644 14.0% 13.4%
Keokuk 2 10,742 16.3% 9.8%
Iowa Falls 3 5,193 18.4% 9.3%
Ottumwa 4 24,847 15.0% 10.1%
Burlington 5 25,559 20.9% 8.6%
Fort Dodge 6 24,846 20.8% 10.7%
Clarinda 7 5,490 18.5% 6.5%
Winterset 8 5,165 15.1% 11.0%
Anamosa 9 5,526 9.9% 13.2%
Fort Madison 10 10,929 13.1% 10.2%
Webster City 11 7,905 17.2% 5.3%
Creston 12 7,846 17.2% 6.2%
Centerville 13 5,480 19.1% 7.8%
Waterloo 14 68,392 20.2% 9.6%
Maquoketa 15 6,064 14.7% 5.0%
Clinton 16 26,611 18.4% 6.3%
Mason City 17 27,775 20.9% 5.9%
Charles City 18 7,562 17.2% 5.8%
Marshalltown 19 27,749 20.1% 7.6%
Muscatine 20 23,857 17.4% 5.9%
Oskaloosa 21 11,555 23.3% 9.9%
Shenandoah 22 5,079 17.7% 4.2%
Estherville 23 6,177 14.5% 5.3%
Denison 24 8,370 15.0% 5.9%
Knoxville 25 7,257 16.9% 6.3%
Manchester 26 5,126 16.0% 4.9%
Washington 27 7,315 21.4% 7.3%
Spencer 28 11,177 18.3% 4.4%
Newton 29 15,139 19.5% 6.1%
Storm Lake 30 10,743 17.2% 5.1%
Fairfield 31 9,615 39.1% 5.3%
Cherokee 32 5,203 20.9% 3.4%
Oelwein 33 6,321 15.1% 3.8%
Atlantic 34 6,983 21.1% 2.2%
Algona 35 5,513 23.5% 1.6%
Dubuque 36 58,068 28.9% 6.1%
Council Bluffs 37 62,261 17.5% 7.0%
Vinton 38 5,211 22.1% 6.3%
Le Mars 39 9,783 18.0% 3.7%
Independence 40 5,955 23.1% 4.2%
Boone 41 12,619 21.6% 6.1%
Mount Pleasant 42 8,682 21.0% 4.5%
Grinnell 43 9,136 33.7% 4.8%
Sioux City 44 82,719 20.5% 6.1%
Davenport 45 101,316 27.3% 6.7%
Waverly 46 9,998 37.6% 6.9%
Carroll 47 10,051 20.9% 0.8%
Sheldon 48 5,047 24.7% 2.4%
Harlan 49 5,047 22.2% 1.9%
Pella 50 10,343 33.4% 4.7%
Nevada 51 6,794 22.1% 6.4%
Cedar Falls 52 40,009 44.6% 7.1%
Perry 53 7,986 14.2% 4.4%
Des Moines 54 206,702 24.7% 8.4%
Eldridge 55 5,908 34.1% 6.6%
Cedar Rapids 56 128,009 30.9% 5.7%
Ames 57 61,276 62.8% 6.2%
Clear Lake 58 7,718 28.4% 3.6%
Hiawatha 59 7,109 34.3% 4.6%
Iowa City 60 70,597 58.8% 4.6%
Decorah 61 8,058 40.9% 2.8%
De Witt 62 5,297 26.9% 5.5%
Orange City 63 6,130 36.3% 2.4%
Indianola 64 15,014 31.1% 7.1%
Bettendorf 65 34,247 48.3% 4.3%
Marion 66 35,809 33.7% 4.8%
Sioux Center 67 7,218 35.5% 0.5%
West Des Moines 68 59,815 52.4% 4.3%
Glenwood 69 5,253 21.1% 2.6%
Altoona 70 15,317 31.8% 5.1%
Urbandale 71 41,157 48.4% 3.9%
Coralville 72 19,677 57.6% 3.5%
Johnston 73 18,874 59.6% 3.6%
Norwalk 74 9,444 34.9% 4.5%
Clive 75 16,246 53.7% 2.2%
Ankeny 76 49,488 45.2% 3.6%
Pleasant Hill 77 9,011 33.7% 2.7%
Waukee 78 15,944 50.6% 0.6%
Grimes 79 9,037 49.1% 2.2%
North Liberty 80 14,503 48.4% 0.7%

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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Topics: Rankings