Photo: Rowen Hansen · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Blue Springs have higher incomes than those in 67% of U.S. towns
Blue Springs grades A− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 7.0%; Missouri has 12.6%. About one in seven stay in Blue Springs for work; outside it, Kansas City is the main destination (28%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Blue Springs: the figures worth knowing
28% of Blue Springs works in Kansas City
8,127 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Kansas City, 17 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Blue Springs itself. The commute map ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
33% of the jobs based in Blue Springs are held by workers 29 or younger, against 23% of Blue Springs’ own working residents. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Blue Springs’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Blue Springs is better than 79% of U.S. towns, #56 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 82% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Blue Springs could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Where Blue Springs’ working residents head each day
Where Blue Springs clocks in
28% of workers
10% 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.
Jobs in Blue Springs: what the 18,464 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Springs, 2014 → 2024: 15,990 → 18,464. 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 Blue Springs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Blue Springs, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 25,288 residents head out to work, 3,797 work right here, and 14,667 people come in from elsewhere.
About 51,000 people are in Blue Springs on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.63 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 2024, primary jobs.
Getting to work from Blue Springs takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Springs workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,699 commuters (the 15% 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.
How many miles Blue Springs commutes
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.
Blue Springs is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blue Springs is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #184 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 30,147 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.1% of Blue Springs households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Blue Springs’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 720 U.S. towns of 43,000 to 83,000, Blue Springs comes 247th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Chesterfield MO | 49,309 | $133K | 3.9% | 3.2% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | St. Peters MO | 61,479 | $92K | 5.6% | 2.3% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Wentzville MO | 49,495 | $112K | 5.4% | 2.7% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 245 | Orland Park IL | 57,954 | $99K | 7.3% | 4.8% | 9% | A− |
| 246 | Indian Trail NC | 44,303 | $108K | 5.4% | 5.3% | 7% | A− |
| 247 | Blue Springs MO | 61,632 | $89K | 7.0% | 3.5% | 13% | A− |
| 248 | Windsor CO | 43,840 | $127K | 6.0% | 4.5% | 10% | A− |
| 249 | Cherry Hill Township NJ | 79,965 | $122K | 7.5% | 5.8% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 720 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Blue Springs, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
12% of Blue Springs works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Independence (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blue Springs workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Springs | – | A− | C+ | 26 min | $88,920 |
| Independence | 10% | C+ | B+ | 24 min | $60,339 |
| Lake Lotawana | under 2% | A | C | 28 min | $165,962 |
| Lake Tapawingo | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Grain Valley | 2% | A− | C+ | 26 min | $89,649 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lake Tapawingo: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Blue Springs’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 Blue Springs: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Springs?
$88,920 (±$4,089) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Springs?
7.0%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Springs?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Springs work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (28%, 17 mi), Independence (10%, 7 mi), Lee's Summit (9%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Blue Springs walkable?
Blue Springs is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Springs without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Springs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Springs
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.