Porter Hotel · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Fewer people are out of work in Beloit (0.2%) than in 98% of U.S. towns
More than half work in Beloit itself; outside it, Simpson draws the most (6%, 11 miles). Beloit grades C for jobs and income and A for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Beloit, in a few figures
Jobs & income in Beloit: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Beloit is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #123 of 151 in Kansas. Unemployment holds Beloit’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 9% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Beloit could be anywhere from C− to B−.
About 11 minutes each way for Beloit’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Beloit workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,283 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 85% 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.
How a workday changes Beloit
On a workday 749 residents head out to work, 822 work right here, and 1,194 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Beloit on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Beloit ends
Where Beloit clocks in
Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
What work there is in Beloit: 2,016 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Beloit, 2013 → 2023: 2,190 → 2,016. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Beloit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Beloit, by distance
About 28% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Beloit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Beloit is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #6 of 151 in Kansas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across Kansas, on an EPA index of 8.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,388 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). 11.4% of Beloit households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Beloit’s commuters take a bus or train.
Beloit is 3,191st of 4,453 U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Fairway KS | 4,181 | $153K | 3.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Minneha Township KS | 3,472 | $143K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,189 | Gosnell AR | 2,663 | $61K | 21.6% | 2.3% | 6% | C |
| 3,190 | Mount Morris IL | 2,787 | $46K | 13.8% | 3.5% | 3% | C |
| 3,191 | Beloit KS | 3,288 | $52K | 17.9% | 0.2% | 52% | C |
| 3,192 | South Highpoint FL | 4,174 | $61K | 19.1% | 7.9% | 1% | C |
| 3,193 | Decatur Township MI | 3,503 | $68K | 18.2% | 4.4% | 10% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | 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 Beloit, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
How Beloit compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Beloit Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Beloit workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beloit | – | C | A | 11 min | $52,114 |
| Beloit Township | 3% | — | — | 11 min | — |
| Plum Creek Township | under 1% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Beloit Township and Plum Creek Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Beloit’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. 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 Beloit: questions
What is the median household income in Beloit?
$52,114 (±$12,458) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Beloit?
17.9%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Beloit?
11 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Beloit work?
52% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Simpson (6%, 11 mi), Salina (3%, 52 mi), Beloit Township (3%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Beloit walkable?
Beloit is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Beloit without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Beloit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Beloit
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. 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.