For about half of its working residents, Blue Township is a commute to Manhattan
Only 3% work in Blue Township itself; outside it, Manhattan draws the most (49%, 8 miles). The two grades for Blue Township are A− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Measured by household income, Blue Township is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Blue Township stands out on work
Nearly half of Blue Township works in Manhattan
1,094 working residents, 49%, have their main job in Manhattan, 7.5 miles away across the town line. That’s 16 times as many as work in Blue Township itself. The commute map ↓
Blue Township has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Blue Township went from 474 in 2013 to 837 in 2023, +77%. The jobs ↓
Blue Township makes and builds things
53% of the jobs based in Blue Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Blue Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 14%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Blue Township: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Blue Township is better than 81% of U.S. towns, #35 of 151 in Kansas. Household income holds Blue Township’s grade up ($118,385, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 44% 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, Blue Township could be anywhere from B to A.
Where the trip to work from Blue Township ends
Where Blue Township clocks in
49% of workers
6% of workersLines 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.
Goods, not services: 53% of the jobs in Blue Township
837 jobs are based in Blue Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Township, 2013 → 2023: 474 → 837. 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 Blue Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Blue Township by day
On a workday 2,156 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 780 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,100 people are in Blue Township on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.38 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How long Blue Township spends getting to work: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Township workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,271 commuters (the 11% 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 far Blue Township goes to work
About 17% 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.
Blue Township is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blue Township is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns, #118 of 151 in Kansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.4% across Kansas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,545 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). 0.3% of Blue Township households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Blue Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,400, Blue Township ranks 794th of 3,612 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Fairway KS | 4,181 | $153K | 3.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Aubry Township KS | 4,719 | $134K | 0.7% | 1.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Pleasant Township KS | 5,459 | $113K | 0.8% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 792 | Wright Township PA | 5,938 | $124K | 7.3% | 3.2% | 11% | A− |
| 793 | Trent Woods NC | 4,070 | $108K | 3.5% | 3.1% | 5% | A− |
| 794 | Blue Township KS | 5,449 | $118K | 6.8% | 2.2% | 3% | A− |
| 795 | Belleair FL | 4,631 | $117K | 5.7% | 5.5% | 4% | A− |
| 796 | Lake Barrington IL | 5,130 | $142K | 6.3% | 5.9% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,612 | 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 Blue Township, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
50% of Blue Township works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blue Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Township | – | A− | C | 21 min | $118,385 |
| Manhattan Township | 1% | C+ | B− | 12 min | $63,182 |
| Manhattan | 49% | B− | A | 17 min | $60,172 |
| Grant Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Zeandale Township | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| St. George Township | under 2% | B+ | D | 23 min | $88,553 |
| Pottawatomie Township | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Green Township | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Grant Township, Zeandale Township, Pottawatomie Township and Green Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Manhattan. Darker towns draw more of Blue Township’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 Blue Township: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Township?
$118,385 (±$17,157) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Township?
6.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Township?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Township work?
3% work in town.
Is Blue Township walkable?
Blue Township is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Township
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.