Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Charleston has lower household incomes than 98% of U.S. towns
3% of workers work from home; Missouri has 13%. Below the poverty line: 25.8% of residents (Missouri 12.6%). For jobs and income Charleston is better than 10% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Charleston: the figures worth knowing
Fewer than half of Charleston workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Charleston’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Charleston are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Charleston than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Charleston fell from 1,790 in 2013 to 1,271 in 2023, −29%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Charleston workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Charleston
Unemployment holds Charleston’s grade up (5.0%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($33,952, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Charleston could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The 1,271 jobs based in Charleston
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Charleston, 2013 → 2023: 1,790 → 1,271. 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 Charleston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 18 minutes to work from Charleston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Charleston workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,206 commuters (the 3% 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.
A workday in Charleston: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,158 residents head out to work, 416 work right here, and 855 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 (0.81 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.
18% of working residents work in Sikeston
Where Charleston clocks in
18% of workers
7% of workers
2% 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.
How far it is to work from Charleston
About 22% 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 Charleston start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,240 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). 21.6% of Charleston households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Charleston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Charleston sits among U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,558 | Whiteman AFB MO | 3,517 | $55K | 13.3% | 3.6% | 5% | D |
| 3,559 | Cassville MO | 3,301 | $60K | 31.3% | 6.1% | 25% | D |
| 3,560 | Charleston MO | 4,731 | $34K | 25.8% | 5.0% | 26% | D |
| 3,561 | Bath NY | 5,545 | $47K | 19.7% | 6.7% | 17% | D |
| 3,562 | Donora PA | 4,462 | $40K | 29.6% | 12.7% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Charleston, 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 Charleston: questions
What is the median household income in Charleston?
$33,952 (±$9,082) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Charleston?
25.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Charleston?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Charleston work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sikeston (18%, 14 mi), Cape Girardeau (7%, 30 mi), Miner (2%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Charleston walkable?
Charleston is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Charleston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 22% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Charleston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Charleston
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.