Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Households in De Soto earn less than those in 85% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 13.1% of residents, where Missouri as a whole has 12.6%. For jobs and income De Soto is better than 30% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (B). About one in seven stay in De Soto for work; outside it, St. Louis is the main destination (7%, 38 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
De Soto and work: the main findings
De Soto trades workers with the towns around it
De Soto has about as many jobs (2,273) as working residents (2,596), but they are mostly different people: 2,259 residents leave for work each day while 1,936 people come in. Only 15% of the jobs in De Soto are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
De Soto workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 36 minutes each way, against 24 across Missouri. Over a year that’s about 276 hours of commuting, 92 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
No single place dominates De Soto’s commute
The biggest draw, St. Louis, gets only 7% of working residents, and 58% work outside the top ten towns entirely. De Soto residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
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.
Jobs & income in De Soto: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds De Soto’s grade up (ahead of 48% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($52,500, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, De Soto could be anywhere from D to B+.
De Soto on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,259 residents head out to work, 337 work right here, and 1,936 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 (0.88 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.
Commuting from De Soto: about 36 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of De Soto workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,498 commuters (the 16% 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.
Where people from De Soto work
Where De Soto clocks in
7% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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 2,273 jobs based in De Soto
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in De Soto, 2013 → 2023: 2,173 → 2,273. 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 De Soto’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from De Soto
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.
De Soto is a driving town
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 2,964 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% 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 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 46% 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). 9.4% of De Soto households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of De Soto’s commuters take a bus or train.
De Soto is 2,396th of 3,218 U.S. towns of 4,600 to 8,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Cottleville MO | 6,717 | $131K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Greenwood MO | 6,315 | $107K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,394 | Running Springs CA | 4,917 | $82K | 15.5% | 7.4% | 5% | C |
| 2,395 | Fussels Corner FL | 5,682 | $56K | 16.8% | 5.1% | <1% | C |
| 2,396 | De Soto MO | 6,527 | $53K | 13.1% | 4.4% | 13% | C |
| 2,397 | Barre VT | 8,214 | $66K | 17.3% | 4.5% | 21% | C |
| 2,398 | Mount Healthy OH | 6,917 | $55K | 21.0% | 5.9% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,218 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 De Soto, 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 De Soto: questions
What is the median household income in De Soto?
$52,500 (±$11,189) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in De Soto?
13.1%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from De Soto?
36 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in De Soto work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Louis (7%, 38 mi), Hillsboro (4%, 6 mi), Fenton (3%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is De Soto walkable?
De Soto is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around De Soto without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from De Soto, from the people who make the trip.
More of De Soto
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.