Rooks County Courthouse · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Households in Stockton have lower incomes than those in 70% of U.S. towns
About two in five work in Stockton itself; outside it, Plainville draws the most (6%, 13 miles). 6.9% of residents are in poverty; Kansas has 11.3%. The two grades for Stockton are C for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Stockton, in a few figures
Fewer than half of Stockton workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Stockton’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 22% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Stockton are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 20 across Kansas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Stockton’s workforce skews older
36% of Stockton’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
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 543 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Stockton’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Stockton is better than 27% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Stockton’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.2%) is left out: Stockton’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, Stockton could be anywhere from C− to C+.
What the 535 jobs in Stockton are
535 jobs are based in Stockton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stockton, 2014 → 2024: 551 → 535. 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 Stockton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Stockton spends getting to work: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stockton workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 685 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.
Stockton on a workday afternoon
On a workday 328 residents head out to work, 215 work right here, and 320 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 (0.99 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 Stockton’s working residents head each day
Where Stockton clocks in
6% of workers
6% 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 commute from Stockton, by distance
About 22% 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.
Stockton is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stockton is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.2% 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 724 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). 8.5% of Stockton households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Stockton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Stockton is 3,575th among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,573 | Prineville Lake Acres OR | 1,497 | $80K | 10.7% | 4.3% | 1% | C |
| 3,574 | Twin Lakes VA | 1,562 | $67K | 13.3% | 0.0% | <1% | C |
| 3,575 | Stockton KS | 1,400 | $63K | 6.9% | 1.2% | 40% | C |
| 3,576 | Terry MS | 1,557 | $48K | 13.7% | 3.9% | 1% | C |
| 3,577 | Ecru MS | 1,113 | $65K | 16.1% | 14.8% | 10% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Stockton, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
How Stockton compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Township 3 (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Stockton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stockton | – | C | A− | 13 min | $62,621 |
| Township 2 | under 2% | — | — | 14 min | — |
| Township 3 | 1% | C+ | A− | 13 min | $72,417 |
Same-state neighbors only. Township 2: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Stockton’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 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 Stockton: questions
What is the median household income in Stockton?
$62,621 (±$2,793) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stockton?
6.9%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stockton?
13 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stockton work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Plainville (6%, 13 mi), Phillipsburg (6%, 23 mi), Hays (6%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Stockton walkable?
Stockton is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stockton 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 Stockton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stockton
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.