Downs Missouri Pacific Depot · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Where Downs earns its living
About one in seven work in Downs; the top destination outside it is Osborne (24%, 9 miles). 2% of workers work from home, against 12% across Kansas. The trip to work takes 13 minutes on average; Kansas averages 20, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Downs: the gist
Downs and Osborne trade workers both ways
Osborne is the top workplace for Downs residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Downs come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Downs are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 20 across Kansas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Downs workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 12% across Kansas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; with 307 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The places Downs commutes to
Where Downs clocks in
24% of workers
8% 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.
About 13 minutes each way, quicker than most of Kansas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Downs workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 345 commuters (the 2% 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.
Downs on a workday afternoon
On a workday 266 residents head out to work, 41 work right here, and 236 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.90 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.
The kinds of work in Downs
277 jobs are based in Downs.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Downs, 2013 → 2023: 349 → 277. 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 Downs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Downs
About 24% 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.
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 Downs: questions
What is the median household income in Downs?
$62,333 (±$7,572) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Downs?
5.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Downs?
13 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Downs work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Osborne (24%, 9 mi), Natoma (8%, 34 mi), Beloit (7%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Downs without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Downs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Downs
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.