Orange City Iowa | Workforce

We’ve got great employees and many–16,500 of the 113,600 in our workforce–tell us that they are “likely to change or accept new employment” when new employment opportunities come available. While many Orange City/Alton employees live in our immediate area, our workforce is bolstered by commuters from the surrounding cities, towns, and farming communities of Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. According to the 2010 Orange City/Alton Laborshed Survey & Analysis that was conducted by the Iowa Workforce Department, our workforce originates from over 50 zip codes in the quad-state area.

Visitors are often impressed by the skills, education, and unique work ethic in this region, an enriching legacy of the region’s heartland heritage. In addition, we are raising an impressive young workforce, Orange City’s 2010 high school graduate rate was 98.47 % versus the state average of 87.21%, and the average ACT Score is 24. Our workeforce is very well-educated. Having 32% with college degrees, 60% with post high school, technical, or some college experience, and 84% are high school graduates.

Top 3 Population Psychographics

Midlife Junction

residents are phasing out of their childrearing years. The median age is 41.1 years; nearly one-fifth of residents are aged 65 years or older. Households in this market include a variety of family types as well as singles who live alone or share housing. Nearly half of the households are composed of married-couple families; 31 percent are singleperson households. Most of these residents are white.

Prairie Living

Small, family-owned farms in the Midwest dominate this stable market. Two-thirds of these households are composed of married couples, with and without children. These residents are slightly older, with a median age of 41.2 years. These communities have little ethnic diversity; 93 percent of Prairie Living residents are white.

Salt of the Earth

households are dominated by married couples with children (36 percent) and without (29 percent). Both household percentages are higher than the U.S. values. One-fifth of households are composed of singles who live alone. The average household size for this market is 2.60, extremely close to the U.S. value of 2.59; however, the average family size is 2.99, falling below the U.S. average of 3.14. With a median age of 41.3 years, this is a slightly older market. Because ethnic diversity in these neighborhoods is negligible—94 percent of the residents are white—Salt of the Earth neighborhoods are the least diverse of all the Community Tapestry segments.