Photo: Dean Sebourn · CC BY 2.0Households in Doniphan earn less than those in 97% of U.S. towns
About one in three work in Doniphan; the top destination outside it is Poplar Bluff (18%, 25 miles). 30.2% of residents live below the poverty line; Missouri has 12.6%. For jobs and income Doniphan is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Doniphan in brief
Doniphan is where the jobs are
Doniphan has 1,547 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,600 people are in town, 47% more than the 1,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Doniphan’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Doniphan is Poplar Bluff, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (130) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Doniphan workers earn over $40,000 a year
35% of Doniphan’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 ↓
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 708 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Doniphan’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Doniphan is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Doniphan’s grade.
Unemployment (3.3%) is left out: Doniphan’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Doniphan could be anywhere from D− to D.
How many people are in Doniphan by day
On a workday 492 residents head out to work, 216 work right here, and 1,331 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Doniphan on a workday afternoon, 47% more than live here.
2.2 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Doniphan
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.
Inside Doniphan’s 1,547 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Doniphan, 2013 → 2023: 1,726 → 1,547. 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 Doniphan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Doniphan
Where Doniphan clocks in
2% 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 long Doniphan spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Doniphan workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 799 commuters (the 13% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Doniphan
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.2% across Missouri, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 921 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). 13.6% of Doniphan households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Doniphan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Doniphan sits among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 57 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,966 | Jonesville LA | 1,531 | $44K | 34.3% | 6.4% | 23% | D− |
| 5,967 | Grayling MI | 1,969 | $33K | 31.9% | 4.6% | 27% | D− |
| 5,968 | Doniphan MO | 1,784 | $38K | 30.2% | 3.3% | 31% | D− |
| 5,969 | Steelville MO | 1,447 | $32K | 34.8% | 4.3% | 12% | D− |
| 5,970 | Cabool MO | 2,089 | $34K | 28.9% | 1.4% | 22% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Doniphan, 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 Doniphan: questions
What is the median household income in Doniphan?
$37,650 (±$16,944) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Doniphan?
30.2%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Doniphan?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Doniphan work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Poplar Bluff (18%, 25 mi), Cape Girardeau (2%, 84 mi), St. Louis (2%, 143 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Doniphan walkable?
Doniphan is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Doniphan without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Doniphan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Doniphan
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.