Wakefield has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Wakefield has 126 jobs; 330 of its residents have a job. Only 2% stay in Wakefield for work; outside it, Clay Center is the main destination (24%, 13 miles). A typical one-way commute from Wakefield lasts 32 minutes (Kansas 20, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Wakefield apart on work
About 32 minutes to work from Wakefield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wakefield workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 478 commuters (the 10% 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 Wakefield
On a workday 322 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 118 people come in from elsewhere.
About 630 people are in Wakefield on a workday afternoon, 24% 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.
Out of Wakefield to work: where people go
Where Wakefield clocks in
24% of workers
11% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Wakefield
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wakefield, 2013 → 2023: 116 → 126. 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 Wakefield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Wakefield commutes less than 23 miles
About 24% 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.
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 Wakefield: questions
What is the median household income in Wakefield?
$68,594 (±$9,789) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wakefield?
12.1%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wakefield?
32 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wakefield work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Clay Center (24%, 13 mi), Manhattan (11%, 22 mi), Salina (6%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wakefield without a car?
<1% 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 Wakefield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wakefield
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.