With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Gem works elsewhere
Home is the office for 0% of workers, next to 12% for Kansas as a whole. There are 12 jobs in Gem; 44 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in Gem; the top destination outside it is Colby (23%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Gem on a workday afternoon
On a workday 44 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 12 people come in from elsewhere.
About 61 people are in Gem on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.
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 places Gem commutes to
Where Gem clocks in
23% of workers
9% of workers
7% 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.
Making and building: 100% of jobs based in Gem
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gem, 2013 → 2023: 2 → 12. 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 Gem’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 16 minutes each way for Gem’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gem workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 58 commuters (the 0% 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 many miles Gem commutes
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.
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 Gem: questions
What is the poverty rate in Gem?
0.0%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gem?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gem work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Colby (23%, 8 mi), Oakley (9%, 21 mi), Wichita (7%, 226 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Gem without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 22% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gem, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gem
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.