Photo: Skrunyon · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Pittsburg have lower incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
About half work in Pittsburg itself; outside it, Frontenac draws the most (7%, 3 miles). Below the poverty line: 29.6% of residents (Kansas 11.3%). Pittsburg grades C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Pittsburg: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pittsburg is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #137 of 151 in Kansas. Unemployment holds Pittsburg’s grade up (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pittsburg could be anywhere from D to C.
Who works in Pittsburg, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 4,012 residents head out to work, 3,844 work right here, and 7,179 people come in from elsewhere.
About 24,000 people are in Pittsburg on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 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 people from Pittsburg work
Where Pittsburg clocks in
3% of workers
3% 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.
What Pittsburg’s employers do
11,023 jobs are based in Pittsburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pittsburg, 2013 → 2023: 10,547 → 11,023. 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 Pittsburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Pittsburg, about 16 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pittsburg workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,531 commuters (the 6% 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.
How far it is to work from Pittsburg
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Pittsburg
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pittsburg is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #29 of 151 in Kansas. Both inputs place Pittsburg 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 10,115 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). 10.1% of Pittsburg households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Pittsburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pittsburg and other U.S. towns of 14,000 to 28,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 242 | Prairie Village KS | 23,008 | $114K | 5.7% | 3.0% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 344 | Andover KS | 17,370 | $105K | 4.6% | 2.7% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 420 | Bruno Township KS | 19,221 | $103K | 5.3% | 2.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,754 | Waterville ME | 17,579 | $54K | 20.6% | 5.5% | 32% | C− |
| 1,755 | Junction City KS | 22,583 | $61K | 17.5% | 6.2% | 38% | C− |
| 1,756 | Pittsburg KS | 20,569 | $43K | 29.6% | 4.0% | 49% | C− |
| 1,757 | Naranja FL | 15,796 | $54K | 30.3% | 8.9% | 1% | C− |
| 1,758 | Watertown NY | 23,517 | $52K | 20.1% | 5.3% | 44% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,931 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Pittsburg, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
The towns around Pittsburg
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pittsburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburg | – | C− | A− | 16 min | $43,419 |
| Baker Township | 1% | B+ | D | 17 min | $99,449 |
| Frontenac | 7% | C+ | C− | 19 min | $58,733 |
| Washington Township | under 2% | C+ | C− | 19 min | $65,550 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Frontenac. Darker towns draw more of Pittsburg’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 Pittsburg: questions
What is the median household income in Pittsburg?
$43,419 (±$3,038) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pittsburg?
29.6%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pittsburg?
16 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pittsburg work?
49% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Frontenac (7%, 3 mi), Girard (3%, 10 mi), Joplin (3%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pittsburg walkable?
Pittsburg is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pittsburg without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pittsburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pittsburg
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.