Blue Summit draws 550 commuters a day, with 2.4 jobs for every working resident
The two grades for Blue Summit are C for jobs and income and C− for walkability. 555 jobs are based in Blue Summit for 231 working residents. Working from home is the commute for 40% of workers (Missouri 13%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Blue Summit apart
A lot of Blue Summit works one town over
42% of working residents work in a town that borders Blue Summit: Kansas City (31%) and Independence (11%). Next door ↓
Blue Summit is where the jobs are
Blue Summit has 555 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The jobs in Blue Summit pay better than its residents’ jobs
84% of the jobs based in Blue Summit pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 44% of the jobs Blue Summit residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Blue Summit. The jobs ↓
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 231 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Blue Summit
On income, poverty and job access, Blue Summit is better than 34% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Blue Summit’s grade up (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (36.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Blue Summit’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, Blue Summit could be anywhere from C− to B.
Blue Summit fills up on a workday
On a workday 226 residents head out to work and 5 work right here.
About 1,500 people are in Blue Summit on a workday afternoon, 28% 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 jobs make up 45% of work in Blue Summit
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Summit, 2013 → 2023: 408 → 555. 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 Blue Summit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Blue Summit, and from where
Where Blue Summit clocks in
31% 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.
The daily trip from Blue Summit: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Summit workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 292 commuters (the 40% 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 far Blue Summit’s workers travel
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.
Blue Summit is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blue Summit is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 489 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 3.9% of Blue Summit households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Blue Summit’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Blue Summit ranks 2,183rd 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,181 | Mifflin Township PA | 1,077 | $66K | 10.3% | 2.7% | 1% | C |
| 2,182 | Littlerock CA | 1,398 | $57K | 6.9% | 3.3% | 2% | C |
| 2,183 | Blue Summit MO | 1,156 | $59K | 36.5% | 0.0% | 2% | C |
| 2,184 | New Middletown OH | 1,486 | $50K | 12.3% | 4.0% | 1% | C |
| 2,185 | Spring City UT | 1,051 | $71K | 6.4% | 5.5% | 1% | 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 Blue Summit, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
Work next door: 42% of Blue Summit’s workers
The biggest share goes to Kansas City (31%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blue Summit workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Summit | – | C | C− | 27 min | $58,813 |
| Kansas City | 31% | B− | A | 22 min | $69,166 |
| Independence | 11% | C+ | B+ | 24 min | $60,339 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Blue Summit’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 Blue Summit: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Summit?
$58,813 (±$23,242) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Summit?
36.5%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Summit?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 40% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Summit work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (31%, 5 mi), Independence (11%, 7 mi), North Kansas City (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blue Summit walkable?
Blue Summit is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Summit without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Summit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Summit
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.