Jobs and earnings in Fair Play, and the trip to work
For 6% of workers, the job is at home, against 13% across Missouri. Only 2% work in Fair Play itself; outside it, Bolivar draws the most (30%, 9 miles). The average commute, 24 minutes each way, matches the Missouri norm.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Fair Play by day and by night
On a workday 185 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 324 people come in from elsewhere.
About 590 people are in Fair Play on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Where Fair Play’s workforce comes from
Where Fair Play clocks in
30% of workers
22% 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.
Making and building: 73% of jobs based in Fair Play
328 jobs are based in Fair Play.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fair Play, 2013 → 2023: 144 → 328. 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 Fair Play’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Fair Play
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fair Play workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 201 commuters (the 6% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Fair Play
About 23% 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 Fair Play: questions
What is the median household income in Fair Play?
$40,781 (±$17,824) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fair Play?
23.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fair Play?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fair Play work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bolivar (30%, 9 mi), Springfield (22%, 34 mi), Buffalo (3%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Fair Play 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 Fair Play, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fair Play
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.