Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Phillipsburg earn less than those in 73% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute lasts 14 minutes, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 14.5% of residents live below the poverty line (Kansas 11.3%). Phillipsburg grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Phillipsburg and work: the main findings
Phillipsburg’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Phillipsburg is better than 12% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Phillipsburg’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.5%) is left out: Phillipsburg’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, Phillipsburg could be anywhere from D− to C.
Phillipsburg’s commute takes about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Phillipsburg workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 840 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.
The daily commute in and out of Phillipsburg
On a workday 613 residents head out to work, 414 work right here, and 535 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 (0.92 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.
13% of working residents work in Phillipsburg Township
Where Phillipsburg clocks in
13% 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.
The 949 jobs based in Phillipsburg
949 jobs are based in Phillipsburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Phillipsburg, 2013 → 2023: 937 → 949. 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 Phillipsburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Phillipsburg
About 27% 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.
Most trips from Phillipsburg start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Phillipsburg is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 908 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). 4.8% of Phillipsburg households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Phillipsburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Phillipsburg is 4,284th of 5,102 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Oxford Township KS | 2,058 | $163K | 1.9% | 2.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Ohio Township KS | 2,219 | $158K | 0.6% | 0.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,282 | Liberty IN | 1,967 | $46K | 18.7% | 3.6% | 14% | D |
| 4,283 | North Judson IN | 1,802 | $55K | 16.2% | 4.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,284 | Phillipsburg KS | 2,225 | $61K | 14.5% | 4.5% | 40% | D |
| 4,285 | Davis OK | 2,836 | $52K | 18.3% | 5.6% | 14% | D |
| 4,286 | Colby WI | 1,957 | $50K | 19.1% | 1.4% | 11% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | 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 Phillipsburg, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
13% of Phillipsburg works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Phillipsburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phillipsburg | – | D | B− | 14 min | $60,750 |
| Phillipsburg Township | 13% | — | — | 5 min | — |
| Solomon Township | under 2% | — | — | 14 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Phillipsburg Township and Solomon Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Phillipsburg Township. Darker towns draw more of Phillipsburg’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 Phillipsburg: questions
What is the median household income in Phillipsburg?
$60,750 (±$12,751) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Phillipsburg?
14.5%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Phillipsburg?
14 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Phillipsburg work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phillipsburg Township (13%, 3 mi), Hays (3%, 60 mi), Almena (2%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Phillipsburg walkable?
Phillipsburg is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Phillipsburg 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 Phillipsburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Phillipsburg
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.