Photo: HornColumbia · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Centralia (7.0%) is higher than in 82% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Centralia is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (B). About one in five stay in Centralia for work; outside it, Columbia is the main destination (39%, 21 miles). 7% of workers have no commute at all, next to 13% for Missouri as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Centralia, in brief
Centralia trades workers with the towns around it
Centralia has about as many jobs (1,758) as working residents (2,019), but they are mostly different people: 1,574 residents leave for work each day while 1,313 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in Centralia are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
39% of Centralia works in Columbia
788 working residents, 39%, have their main job in Columbia, 21 miles away. That’s more than work in Centralia itself. The commute map ↓
Centralia makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in Centralia are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Centralia residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. 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.
The figures behind Centralia’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Centralia’s grade up (11.9%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Centralia could be anywhere from D to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Centralia
On a workday 1,574 residents head out to work, 445 work right here, and 1,313 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.87 per resident).
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 Centralia’s working residents head each day
Where Centralia clocks in
39% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
A place that makes things: 40% of Centralia’s jobs are in goods
1,758 jobs are based in Centralia.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Centralia, 2013 → 2023: 1,566 → 1,758. 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 Centralia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Centralia: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Centralia workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,910 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.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far it is to work from Centralia
About 18% 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.
In Centralia, the car does most of the work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.2% across Missouri, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,045 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). 6.4% of Centralia households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Centralia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Centralia is 2,980th of 3,867 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | St. Paul MO | 3,849 | $159K | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 129 | Greenwood MO | 6,315 | $107K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,978 | Longview Heights WA | 4,357 | $75K | 11.2% | 9.9% | <1% | C |
| 2,979 | Greensboro GA | 3,519 | $40K | 21.7% | 0.0% | 15% | C |
| 2,980 | Centralia MO | 4,767 | $66K | 11.9% | 7.0% | 22% | C |
| 2,981 | Waupaca WI | 6,352 | $53K | 11.5% | 5.6% | 32% | C |
| 2,982 | Monroe Township IN | 3,455 | $54K | 15.9% | 4.1% | 10% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Centralia, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
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 Centralia: questions
What is the median household income in Centralia?
$66,438 (±$14,614) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Centralia?
11.9%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Centralia?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Centralia work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (39%, 21 mi), Mexico (4%, 14 mi), Jefferson City (4%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Centralia walkable?
Centralia is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Centralia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Centralia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Centralia
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.