Halstead Santa Fe Depot · Photo: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company · Public domainAt 2.0%, unemployment in Halstead is lower than in 85% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Halstead itself; outside it, Wichita draws the most (20%, 23 miles). The two grades for Halstead are B for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers (Kansas 12%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Halstead in brief
Why Halstead gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Halstead is better than 63% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Halstead’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (10.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Halstead could be anywhere from C to A.
Where Halstead’s working residents head each day
Where Halstead clocks in
20% of workers
13% 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.
Halstead by day and by night
On a workday 830 residents head out to work, 115 work right here, and 464 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Halstead on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.61 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.
What the 579 jobs in Halstead are
579 jobs are based in Halstead.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Halstead, 2013 → 2023: 667 → 579. 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 Halstead’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Halstead
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Halstead workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 985 commuters (the 4% 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.
Where in the region Halstead works
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.
Most trips from Halstead start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Halstead is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Halstead 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 1,029 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). 3.5% of Halstead households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Halstead’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Halstead ranks: 1,522nd of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Oxford Township KS | 2,058 | $163K | 1.9% | 2.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,520 | Choccolocco AL | 2,620 | $79K | 8.6% | 1.1% | 1% | B |
| 1,521 | Homer GA | 2,016 | $89K | 8.5% | 3.5% | 2% | B |
| 1,522 | Halstead KS | 2,132 | $76K | 10.8% | 2.0% | 12% | B |
| 1,523 | Butler WI | 1,752 | $60K | 11.8% | 2.7% | 3% | B |
| 1,524 | Monroe Township IN | 1,656 | $70K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Halstead, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
Halstead and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Halstead workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halstead | – | B | B− | 23 min | $76,250 |
| Halstead Township | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Lakin Township | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Halstead Township and Lakin Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Halstead’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 Halstead: questions
What is the median household income in Halstead?
$76,250 (±$28,242) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Halstead?
10.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Halstead?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Halstead work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wichita (20%, 23 mi), Newton (13%, 9 mi), Hutchinson (8%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Halstead walkable?
Halstead is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Halstead without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Halstead, from the people who make the trip.
More of Halstead
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.