Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Birch Tree has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
64 jobs are based in Birch Tree for 163 working residents. Only 2% work in Birch Tree itself; outside it, West Plains draws the most (9%, 27 miles). 0% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
A workday in Birch Tree: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 159 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 60 people come in from elsewhere.
About 460 people are in Birch Tree on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
Where people from Birch Tree work
Where Birch Tree clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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.
Making and building: 58% of jobs based in Birch Tree
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Birch Tree, 2013 → 2023: 146 → 64. 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 Birch Tree’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Birch Tree spends getting to work: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Birch Tree workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 188 commuters (the 1% 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.
The commute from Birch Tree, by distance
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.
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 Birch Tree: questions
What is the median household income in Birch Tree?
$46,500 (±$31,765) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Birch Tree?
26.1%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Birch Tree?
33 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Birch Tree work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Plains (9%, 27 mi), Winona (8%, 9 mi), Eminence (6%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Birch Tree without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Birch Tree, from the people who make the trip.
More of Birch Tree
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.