Photo: Spacini · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Marion trail those of 76% of U.S. towns
About one in three stay in Marion for work; outside it, Wichita is the main destination (10%, 50 miles). 11.1% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.3% across Kansas. The two grades for Marion are D for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Marion, in brief
Marion’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Marion is Wichita, 50 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (88) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Marion pay little
26% of the jobs based in Marion pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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 876 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Marion’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Marion is better than 14% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Marion’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Marion’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Marion could be anywhere from D− to C.
Where in the region Marion works
About 23% 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.
The 796 jobs based in Marion
796 jobs are based in Marion.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marion, 2013 → 2023: 823 → 796. 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 Marion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Marion, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 608 residents head out to work, 268 work right here, and 528 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 (0.91 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.
Where Marion’s working residents head each day
Where Marion clocks in
10% of workers
10% of workers
4% 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.
About 17 minutes to work from Marion
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marion workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 841 commuters (the 5% 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.
Most of Marion commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marion is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.4% across Kansas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 881 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). 7.9% of Marion households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marion’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600, Marion ranks 4,646th of 5,921 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Oxford Township KS | 2,058 | $163K | 1.9% | 2.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,644 | Wysox Township PA | 1,545 | $60K | 13.0% | 7.8% | 12% | D |
| 4,645 | Jonesboro IL | 1,635 | $59K | 20.9% | 1.3% | 6% | D |
| 4,646 | Marion KS | 1,897 | $58K | 11.1% | 0.0% | 31% | D |
| 4,647 | Montour NY | 2,170 | $64K | 16.6% | 10.2% | 8% | D |
| 4,648 | Springerville AZ | 1,719 | $49K | 8.5% | 3.8% | 20% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Marion, 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 Marion: questions
What is the median household income in Marion?
$58,387 (±$12,874) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marion?
11.1%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marion?
17 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marion work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wichita (10%, 50 mi), Hillsboro (10%, 10 mi), Florence (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marion walkable?
Marion is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marion without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marion
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.