Jobs

Virtually Everyone In The Midwest City Has A Job, With Only 892 People Out Of Work

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: May 5, 2019 7:42 am

Last Updated: January 6, 2020 4:58 am

The U.S. unemployment level is at its lowest since December 1969. In April, the rate fell to 3.6% as the economy added another 263,000. The jobs situation is better in a number of America cities. In one, virtually everyone is employed.

March data on American metropolitan areas, which are the latest available numbers, show the unemployment rate in Ames, Iowa at 1.5%. Ames has a labor force of 60,457. Only 892 people don’t have jobs.

Ames is largely populated by Whites according to the Census. They constitute over 83% of residents.

About half of the city’s population are students at Iowa State Univerity. The university is the highest employer in the city by far.

Ames is among the American cities with the highest graduation rate ranking 11th with a rate of 93.7%.

Ames has also been listed as one of the drunkest cities in America based on the following analysis:

> Pct. adults drinking to excess: 22.7%
> Pct. driving deaths involving alcohol: 15.0%
> Est. number of restaurants and bars: 176 (181.3 per 100,000)
> Median household income: $53,371

Binge drinking is relatively common among college age students, and Ames, Iowa, has the highest concentration of college students of any U.S. city. Some 32.6% of Ames residents are enrolled in college, more than four times the national average. The fall 2017 enrollment for Iowa State University in Ames was over 36,000.

Some 22.7% of adults in the city report drinking excessively in the last month. A high excessive drinking rate does not necessarily mean drunk driving is also common. There were 3.6 alcohol related driving deaths for every 100,000 driving age residents in Ames between 2011 and 2015, the lowest rate of any metro area in the country.