St. Martha's AME Church · Photo: SharonPapierdreams · CC BY-SA 4.0How Highland works: jobs, income and commuting
A typical one-way commute lasts 14 minutes, next to 20 for Kansas and 26 for the U.S. About one in ten stay in Highland for work; outside it, St. Joseph is the main destination (10%, 25 miles). There are 386 jobs in Highland; 367 of its residents have a job.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Highland, in brief
A big share show a job far from home
38% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Highland’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Highland is St. Joseph, MO, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (36) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Highland pay little
34% of the jobs based in Highland pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 33% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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 367 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Highland’s commute, mile by mile
About 38% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Highland
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Highland, 2013 → 2023: 453 → 386. 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 Highland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Highland by day
On a workday 328 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 347 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 (1.05 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 Highland to work: where people go
Where Highland clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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.
A commute of about 14 minutes in Highland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Highland workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 375 commuters (the 9% 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 Highland: questions
What is the median household income in Highland?
$72,083 (±$23,209) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Highland?
8.4%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Highland?
14 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Highland work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Joseph (10%, 25 mi), Hiawatha (7%, 14 mi), Topeka (6%, 62 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Highland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Highland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Highland
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.