Work means Wichita for about half of Garden Plain’s working residents
Hardly any work in Garden Plain itself; outside it, Wichita draws the most (50%, 18 miles). The two grades for Garden Plain are B− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Home is the office for 6% of workers (Kansas 12%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Garden Plain
More than half of Garden Plain works in Wichita
202 working residents, 50%, have their main job in Wichita, 18 miles away. That’s far more as work in Garden Plain itself. The commute map ↓
Garden Plain is a place people come home to
There are 104 jobs based in Garden Plain, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Garden Plain has about 710 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Garden Plain workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 26 minutes each way, against 20 across Kansas. Over a year that’s about 199 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 401 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Garden Plain’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Household income holds Garden Plain’s grade up ($85,455, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (6.2%) is left out: Garden Plain’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Garden Plain could be anywhere from C to A.
The places Garden Plain commutes to
Where Garden Plain clocks in
50% 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.
Garden Plain on a workday afternoon
On a workday 399 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 102 people come in from elsewhere.
About 710 people are in Garden Plain on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.26 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.
From Garden Plain, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Garden Plain workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 438 commuters (the 6% 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.
Goods, not services: 29% of the jobs in Garden Plain
104 jobs are based in Garden Plain.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garden Plain, 2013 → 2023: 84 → 104. 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 Garden Plain’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Garden Plain
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.
In Garden Plain, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Garden Plain is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Garden Plain near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 465 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.1% of Garden Plain households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Garden Plain’s commuters take a bus or train.
Garden Plain is 1,030th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Delaware Township KS | 1,121 | $119K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Payne Township KS | 1,375 | $104K | 1.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,028 | Neville Township PA | 1,052 | $61K | 13.4% | 4.3% | 8% | B− |
| 1,029 | Winding Cypress FL | 1,160 | $138K | 18.9% | 0.0% | 0% | B− |
| 1,030 | Garden Plain KS | 1,010 | $85K | 15.9% | 6.2% | <1% | B− |
| 1,031 | Spicer MN | 1,096 | $78K | 7.7% | 1.3% | 7% | B− |
| 1,032 | Derry Township PA | 1,075 | $83K | 11.2% | 3.1% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Garden Plain, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
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 Garden Plain: questions
What is the median household income in Garden Plain?
$85,455 (±$14,609) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garden Plain?
15.9%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Garden Plain?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Garden Plain work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wichita (50%, 18 mi), Goddard (6%, 6 mi), Waco Township (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Garden Plain walkable?
Garden Plain is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Garden Plain without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Garden Plain, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garden Plain
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.