Photo: Catlady95 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Ness City have lower incomes than those in 67% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Ness City is better than 16% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (C+). The poverty rate is 11.5%, where Kansas as a whole has 11.3%. About one in three work in Ness City itself; outside it, Ransom draws the most (8%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Ness City, in brief
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Ness City than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Ness City fell from 676 in 2014 to 493 in 2024, −27%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Ness City are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 20 across Kansas. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 525 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Ness City gets the Jobs & income grade it does
The poverty rate holds Ness City’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.2%) is left out: Ness City’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, Ness City could be anywhere from D to C.
The commute from Ness City, by distance
About 31% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What work there is in Ness City: 493 jobs
493 jobs are based in Ness City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ness City, 2014 → 2024: 676 → 493. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Ness City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Ness City: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ness City workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 602 commuters (the 7% 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.
Ness City by day and by night
On a workday 357 residents head out to work, 168 work right here, and 325 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 (0.94 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where people from Ness City work
Where Ness City clocks in
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.
Most trips from Ness City start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% of 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 647 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). 2.6% of Ness City households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ness City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ness City ranks: 3,949th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,947 | Sugarcreek Township PA | 1,333 | $58K | 13.6% | 7.1% | 3% | C− |
| 3,948 | Crab Orchard WV | 1,139 | $44K | 16.6% | 3.8% | 3% | C− |
| 3,949 | Ness City KS | 1,313 | $65K | 11.5% | 0.2% | 32% | C− |
| 3,950 | Ovid MI | 1,498 | $50K | 22.4% | 0.8% | 6% | C− |
| 3,951 | Hubbard TX | 1,507 | $51K | 15.4% | 6.9% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Ness City, 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 2024, 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 Ness City: questions
What is the median household income in Ness City?
$64,583 (±$11,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ness City?
11.5%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ness City?
14 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ness City work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ransom (8%, 13 mi), Bazine (6%, 12 mi), Wichita (4%, 149 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Ness City walkable?
Ness City is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ness City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ness City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ness City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.