Photo: JonHarder · CC BY-SA 3.0Goessel at work: jobs, income and the commute
6% of workers have no commute at all; Kansas has 12%. Only 4% stay in Goessel for work; outside it, Wichita is the main destination (12%, 38 miles). A typical one-way commute from Goessel lasts 24 minutes (Kansas 20, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Goessel apart
Goessel’s commute, mile by mile
About 15% 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.
Goessel on a workday afternoon
On a workday 213 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 172 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 (0.82 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.
Out of Goessel to work: where people go
Where Goessel clocks in
12% of workers
11% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Goessel
182 jobs are based in Goessel.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Goessel, 2013 → 2023: 208 → 182. 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 Goessel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Goessel: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Goessel workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 299 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.
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 Goessel: questions
What is the median household income in Goessel?
$50,417 (±$17,730) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Goessel?
8.4%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Goessel?
24 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Goessel work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wichita (12%, 38 mi), Newton (11%, 14 mi), Hesston (8%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Goessel 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 Goessel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Goessel
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.