Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Essex works elsewhere
Hardly any work in Essex itself; outside it, Dexter draws the most (14%, 6 miles). There are 40 jobs in Essex for 175 working residents. 1% of workers work from home; Missouri has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Essex quiets down on a workday
On a workday 174 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 39 people come in from elsewhere.
About 260 people are in Essex on a workday afternoon, 35% fewer than live here.
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 out of Essex: the destinations
Where Essex clocks in
14% of workers
14% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 65% of the jobs in Essex
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Essex, 2013 → 2023: 39 → 40. 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 Essex’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Essex: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Essex workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 237 commuters (the 1% 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 Essex goes to work
About 19% 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.
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 Essex: questions
What is the median household income in Essex?
$62,536 (±$8,670) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Essex?
24.6%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Essex?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Essex work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dexter (14%, 6 mi), Sikeston (14%, 16 mi), Poplar Bluff (7%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Essex 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 Essex, from the people who make the trip.
More of Essex
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.