Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Cabool’s household incomes are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D−: among the top U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 18 minutes each way (Missouri 24, U.S. 26). About one in five work in Cabool; the top destination outside it is Springfield (8%, 66 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Cabool
Cabool’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Cabool is Springfield, 66 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (57) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Cabool is where the jobs are
Cabool has 1,207 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 675 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Cabool’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Cabool is among the top U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Cabool’s grade.
Unemployment (1.4%) is left out: Cabool’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Cabool stays D−.
Half of Cabool commutes less than 25 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 31% 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.
Cabool fills up on a workday
On a workday 527 residents head out to work, 148 work right here, and 1,059 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Cabool on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Where Cabool’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Cabool clocks in
8% of workers
8% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Cabool makes things: 32% of its jobs are in goods
1,207 jobs are based in Cabool. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cabool’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cabool, 2013 → 2023: 1,161 → 1,207. 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.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Missouri
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cabool workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 847 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Most trips from Cabool start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cabool is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% 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 910 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). 18.3% of Cabool households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Cabool’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Cabool compares with U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cabool, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 48 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,058 | Grayling MI | 1,969 | $33K | 31.9% | 4.6% | 27% | D− |
| 5,059 | Doniphan MO | 1,784 | $38K | 30.2% | 3.3% | 31% | D− |
| 5,060 | Cabool MO | 2,089 | $34K | 28.9% | 1.4% | 22% | D− |
| 5,061 | Aberdeen OH | 1,551 | $45K | 32.1% | 11.2% | 2% | D− |
| 5,062 | Coalgate OK | 1,735 | $46K | 30.4% | 10.6% | 27% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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.
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 Cabool: questions
What is the median household income in Cabool?
$33,929 (±$10,469) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cabool?
28.9%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cabool?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cabool work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (8%, 66 mi), Mountain Grove (8%, 9 mi), West Plains (7%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cabool walkable?
Cabool is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cabool without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cabool, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cabool
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.