Photo: Cecil Sanders · CC BY 2.0Households in Butte have higher incomes than those in 78% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 6.7% of residents, next to 10.1% for Alaska as a whole. Butte grades B− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Working residents average 34 minutes each way, next to 19 for Alaska and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Why Butte gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Butte is better than 55% of U.S. towns, #9 of 41 in Alaska. Household income holds Butte’s grade up ($101,042, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Butte could be anywhere from C to B+.
About 34 minutes each way for Butte’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Butte workers work from home, vs 10% across Alaska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,698 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Alaska: 72% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In Butte, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Butte is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #27 of 41 in Alaska. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 9.9% across Alaska, on an EPA index of 3.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,963 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.9% of Butte households have no vehicle (Alaska 9.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Butte’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Butte is 1,897th among 4,023 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 843 | Farmers Loop AK | 4,954 | $110K | 1.8% | 2.8% | — | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,566 | Goldstream AK | 3,294 | $104K | 4.7% | 3.7% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Mill Bay AK | 3,654 | $89K | 9.0% | 0.0% | — | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,895 | Jefferson Township OH | 5,246 | $57K | 7.2% | 2.0% | 19% | B− |
| 1,896 | Hazel Green AL | 3,940 | $86K | 10.4% | 4.7% | 2% | B− |
| 1,897 | Butte AK | 4,085 | $101K | 6.7% | 3.6% | — | B− |
| 1,898 | Mount Hermon VA | 4,155 | $81K | 6.9% | 4.4% | 2% | B− |
| 1,899 | Casco Township MI | 2,937 | $85K | 5.9% | 5.5% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,023 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Butte, the top three, the last and three more from Alaska.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Butte: questions
What is the median household income in Butte?
$101,042 (±$16,326) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $92,788 across Alaska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Butte?
6.7%, against 10.1% across Alaska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Butte?
34 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Alaska and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Is Butte walkable?
Butte is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Butte without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Butte, from the people who make the trip.
More of Butte
Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.