Brush Creek Bridge · Photo: Photo by Michael Overton. · CC BY-SA 2.5With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Spring Valley Township works elsewhere
3% of workers work from home, where Kansas as a whole has 12%. 30 jobs are based in Spring Valley Township; 467 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Spring Valley Township C+; getting around on foot earns it D−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Spring Valley Township apart
Spring Valley Township is a place people come home to
There are 30 jobs based in Spring Valley Township, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Spring Valley Township has about 570 people in it, 44% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Spring Valley Township workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 12% across Kansas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 467 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Spring Valley Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Spring Valley Township is better than 41% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Spring Valley Township’s grade up ($86,429, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (4.0%) is left out: Spring Valley Township’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, Spring Valley Township could be anywhere from C− to B+.
A workday in Spring Valley Township: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 467 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 30 people come in from elsewhere.
About 570 people are in Spring Valley Township on a workday afternoon, 44% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The daily trip from Spring Valley Township: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spring Valley Township workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 575 commuters (the 3% 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.
16% of working residents work in Joplin
Where Spring Valley Township clocks in
16% of workers
7% 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 kinds of work in Spring Valley Township
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spring Valley Township, 2013 → 2023: 73 → 30. 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 Spring Valley Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Spring Valley Township
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.
Most of Spring Valley Township commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 594 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). 0.3% of Spring Valley Township households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spring Valley Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Spring Valley Township ranks: 1,319th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Delaware Township KS | 1,121 | $119K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Payne Township KS | 1,375 | $104K | 1.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,317 | Minong WI | 1,029 | $75K | 5.4% | 5.5% | 19% | C+ |
| 1,318 | New Richland MN | 1,194 | $67K | 7.4% | 0.8% | 14% | C+ |
| 1,319 | Spring Valley Township KS | 1,004 | $86K | 13.8% | 4.0% | 0% | C+ |
| 1,320 | Greenville VA | 1,183 | $42K | 2.2% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,321 | Denison Township IL | 1,246 | $71K | 4.8% | 11.0% | 2% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Spring Valley Township, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
How Spring Valley Township compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Baxter Springs (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spring Valley Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Valley Township | – | C+ | D− | 19 min | $86,429 |
| Baxter Springs | 8% | D | B− | 19 min | $51,404 |
| Garden Township | under 2% | A− | D | 19 min | $86,074 |
| Crawford Township | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Lyon Township | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Crawford Township and Lyon Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Spring Valley Township’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 Spring Valley Township: questions
What is the median household income in Spring Valley Township?
$86,429 (±$24,894) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spring Valley Township?
13.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spring Valley Township?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spring Valley Township work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Joplin (16%, 16 mi), Baxter Springs (8%, 4 mi), Columbus (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spring Valley Township walkable?
Spring Valley Township is more walkable than 3% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spring Valley Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spring Valley Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spring Valley Township
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.