Most of Valley Township commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
214 jobs are based in Valley Township for 645 working residents. Valley Township grades B for jobs and income and D for walkability. Only 2% stay in Valley Township for work; outside it, Paola is the main destination (12%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Valley Township at work: what stands out
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Valley Township
On income, poverty and job access, Valley Township is better than 60% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Valley Township’s grade up ($89,643, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (7.3%) is left out: Valley Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Valley Township could be anywhere from C to A−.
Valley Township’s commute takes about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Valley Township workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 359 commuters (the 15% 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.
Who works in Valley Township, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 631 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 200 people come in from elsewhere.
About 900 people are in Valley Township on a workday afternoon, 33% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where Valley Township’s working residents head each day
Where Valley Township clocks in
12% 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.
67% of the jobs in Valley Township pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Valley Township, 2014 → 2024: 149 → 214. 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 Valley Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Valley Township, by distance
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.
Few in Valley Township walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Valley Township is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Valley Township 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 421 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). 0.0% of Valley Township households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Valley Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Valley Township ranks: 1,402nd 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,400 | Grant Township KS | 1,317 | $85K | 6.0% | 5.3% | 1% | B |
| 1,401 | Delaware Township KS | 1,785 | $66K | 4.5% | 2.0% | 8% | B |
| 1,402 | Valley Township KS | 1,326 | $90K | 8.3% | 7.3% | 2% | B |
| 1,403 | Excelsior WI | 1,616 | $92K | 8.4% | 2.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,404 | Stryker OH | 1,239 | $73K | 4.7% | 2.0% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Valley Township, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
Work next door: 18% of Valley Township’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Valley Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valley Township | – | B | D | 34 min | $89,643 |
| Osage Township | under 3% | — | — | 34 min | — |
| Osawatomie | 6% | C+ | C− | 30 min | $66,991 |
| Osawatomie Township | under 3% | — | — | 42 min | — |
| Paola Township | under 3% | B+ | B | 24 min | $87,813 |
| Miami Township | under 3% | — | — | 49 min | — |
| Paola | 12% | B | A− | 26 min | $74,662 |
| Middle Creek Township | under 3% | A | C− | 34 min | $136,000 |
| Stanton Township | under 3% | — | — | 51 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Osage Township, Miami Township and Stanton Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Osawatomie Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Paola. Darker towns draw more of 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 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 Valley Township: questions
What is the median household income in Valley Township?
$89,643 (±$21,469) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Valley Township?
8.3%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Valley Township?
34 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Valley Township work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paola (12%, 4 mi), Overland Park (11%, 27 mi), Olathe (11%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Valley Township walkable?
Valley Township is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Valley Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Valley Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Valley Township
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.