About Elma

Elma is a very small town located in the state of Iowa. With a population of 1,365 people and just one neighborhood, Elma is the 263rd largest community in Iowa. Elma has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.

When you are in Elma, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 42.8% of Elma's employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 24.7% that do. Overall, Elma is a town of production and manufacturing workers, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Elma who work in farm management (10.91%), office and administrative support jobs (10.23%), and sales jobs (8.56%).

Another important characteristic of Elma is that a lot of people work in agricultural jobs, especially compared to most other communities in America, and there are quite a number of farms in town.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their homes - 16.67% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Elma is a small town, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.

Elma Information and Demographics

Elma ranks among the bottom of the nation in terms of college education compared to other cities and towns: only 5.61% of people over 25 have a college degree.

The per capita income in Elma in 2000 was $16,169, which is lower middle income relative to Iowa and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $64,676 for a family of four.

The people who call Elma home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Elma is White, followed by African-American. Important ancestries of people in Elma include German, Czech, Norwegian, Irish, and English.

The most common language spoken in Elma is English. Some people also speak German.