Wathena Fruit Growers' Association Building · Photo: Kristi Bender · CC BY-SA 3.0Wathena draws 1,031 commuters a day, with 2.1 jobs for every working resident
For 4% of workers, the job is at home, next to 12% for Kansas as a whole. There are 1,099 jobs in Wathena, against 523 working residents. Jobs and income earn Wathena B+; getting around on foot earns it C−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Wathena apart on work
Many of the people who work in Wathena live in another state
St. Joseph, MO (31%) and Savannah, MO (3%) are among the top places Wathena’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 34% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Many Wathena workers cross into Missouri
56% of Wathena workers work outside Kansas, most of them in Missouri, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Wathena and St. Joseph trade workers both ways
St. Joseph is the top workplace for Wathena residents (38%) and also where the most people who work in Wathena come from (31% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 523 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Wathena
On income, poverty and job access, Wathena is better than 69% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Wathena’s grade up (5.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Wathena’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, Wathena could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Where the people who work in Wathena live
Where Wathena clocks in
38% of workers
6% 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.
How a workday changes Wathena
On a workday 455 residents head out to work and 68 work right here.
About 1,800 people are in Wathena on a workday afternoon, 45% more 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.
Goods, not services: 49% of the jobs in Wathena
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wathena, 2013 → 2023: 474 → 1,099. 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 Wathena’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 21 minutes in Wathena
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wathena workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 815 commuters (the 4% 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 distance from Wathena to work
About 20% 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.
In Wathena, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wathena is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across Kansas, on an EPA index of 4.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 848 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). 2.8% of Wathena households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wathena’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Wathena ranks: 842nd of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 96 | Delaware Township KS | 1,121 | $119K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 840 | Lagunitas-Forest Knolls CA | 1,626 | $131K | 4.4% | 2.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 841 | Capron IL | 1,407 | $90K | 8.9% | 8.3% | 2% | B+ |
| 842 | Wathena KS | 1,273 | $87K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 13% | B+ |
| 843 | Norris TN | 1,621 | $76K | 6.6% | 0.2% | 2% | B+ |
| 844 | Serena Township IL | 1,121 | $104K | 5.6% | 5.4% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Wathena, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
Work in the towns next to Wathena
The biggest share goes to Elwood (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Wathena’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 Wathena: questions
What is the median household income in Wathena?
$87,222 (±$9,361) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wathena?
5.6%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wathena?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wathena work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Joseph (38%, 6 mi), Kansas City (6%, 48 mi), Troy (3%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wathena walkable?
Wathena is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wathena without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wathena, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wathena
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.