Photo: Hog Farm · CC BY-SA 4.0Billings’ household incomes are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
Only 4% stay in Billings for work; outside it, Springfield is the main destination (46%, 17 miles). The poverty rate is 20.3%, against 12.6% across Missouri. Billings grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Billings apart
Nearly half of Billings works in Springfield
224 working residents, 46%, have their main job in Springfield, 17 miles away. That’s 12 times as many as work in Billings itself. The commute map ↓
Billings workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 24 across Missouri. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 100 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 491 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Billings earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Billings is better than 17% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Billings’ grade up (ahead of 55% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($47,344, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (5.6%) is left out: Billings’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, Billings could be anywhere from D to B−.
Where the trip to work from Billings ends
Where Billings clocks in
46% of workers
9% 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.
Getting to work from Billings takes about 37 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Billings workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 290 commuters (the 13% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% 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 leaves Billings for work, and who comes in
On a workday 470 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 256 people come in from elsewhere.
About 970 people are in Billings on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.56 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 kinds of work in Billings
277 jobs are based in Billings.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Billings, 2013 → 2023: 250 → 277. 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 Billings’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Billings
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.
For most of Billings, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 334 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). 6.7% of Billings households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Billings’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Billings ranks 3,097th of 4,312 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Loch Lloyd MO | 1,090 | $184K | 2.5% | 0.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | LaBarque Creek MO | 1,457 | $133K | 1.1% | 1.7% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Fremont Hills MO | 1,098 | $171K | 3.9% | 1.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,095 | Center Township PA | 1,065 | $68K | 12.1% | 3.5% | 8% | C− |
| 3,096 | Pierson FL | 1,555 | $57K | 10.2% | 0.0% | 9% | C− |
| 3,097 | Billings MO | 1,182 | $47K | 20.3% | 5.6% | 4% | C− |
| 3,098 | Hallstead PA | 1,167 | $51K | 15.0% | 12.8% | 2% | C− |
| 3,099 | Caldwell Township MI | 1,423 | $54K | 9.0% | 5.8% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Billings, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
Around Billings: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Billings’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 Billings: questions
What is the median household income in Billings?
$47,344 (±$16,892) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Billings?
20.3%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Billings?
37 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Billings work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (46%, 17 mi), Republic (9%, 11 mi), Nixa (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Billings walkable?
Billings is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Billings without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Billings, from the people who make the trip.
More of Billings
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.