Households in Chaffee have lower incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 9.2% of residents (Missouri 12.6%). The two grades for Chaffee are C for jobs and income and C for walkability. For 5% of workers, the job is at home (Missouri 13%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Chaffee in brief
One in three of Chaffee works in Cape Girardeau
396 working residents, 33%, have their main job in Cape Girardeau, 11 miles away. That’s 4 times as many as work in Chaffee itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Chaffee are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
A young workforce
30% of Chaffee’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Chaffee has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Chaffee went from 345 in 2013 to 466 in 2023, +35%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Chaffee earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chaffee is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #166 of 247 in Missouri. The poverty rate holds Chaffee’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($43,542, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chaffee could be anywhere from D to B.
33% of working residents work in Cape Girardeau
Where Chaffee clocks in
33% of workers
8% 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 Chaffee: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chaffee workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,321 commuters (the 5% 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.
Inside Chaffee’s 466 jobs
466 jobs are based in Chaffee.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chaffee, 2013 → 2023: 345 → 466. 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 Chaffee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Chaffee, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,088 residents head out to work, 112 work right here, and 354 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,300 people are in Chaffee on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
0.39 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 2023, primary jobs.
Miles to work from Chaffee
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.
Most trips from Chaffee start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chaffee is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns, #229 of 247 in Missouri. 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 1,395 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). 11.7% of Chaffee households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chaffee’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Chaffee is 3,515th of 4,771 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | St. Paul MO | 3,849 | $159K | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Clarkson Valley MO | 2,540 | $247K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,513 | Piru CA | 2,185 | $89K | 15.8% | 9.0% | 4% | C |
| 3,514 | Brandenburg KY | 3,003 | $50K | 24.8% | 3.6% | 20% | C |
| 3,515 | Chaffee MO | 3,017 | $44K | 9.2% | 5.2% | 9% | C |
| 3,516 | Lincoln Township KS | 2,730 | $56K | 9.0% | 5.3% | 17% | C |
| 3,517 | Lincolnville ME | 2,433 | $82K | 11.8% | 7.1% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | 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 Chaffee, 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 Chaffee: questions
What is the median household income in Chaffee?
$43,542 (±$16,266) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chaffee?
9.2%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chaffee?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chaffee work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cape Girardeau (33%, 10 mi), Sikeston (8%, 21 mi), Jackson (5%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chaffee walkable?
Chaffee is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chaffee without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chaffee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chaffee
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.