Photo: Rob Stinnett from Boonville, MO, USA · CC BY 2.0Fewer people are out of work in Fayette (2.5%) than in 77% of U.S. towns
Fayette grades C for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in four stay in Fayette for work; outside it, Columbia is the main destination (24%, 24 miles). The average commute takes 27 minutes each way, where Missouri has 24 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Fayette in brief
Fayette’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fayette is Columbia, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 24% of working residents (256) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Nearly all the work in Fayette is services
89% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 0% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Fayette pay little
27% of the jobs based in Fayette pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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.
The figures behind Fayette’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fayette is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #144 of 247 in Missouri. Unemployment holds Fayette’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (16.9%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fayette could be anywhere from D to B.
Near or far: the trip to work from Fayette
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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Fayette
1,301 jobs are based in Fayette.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fayette, 2013 → 2023: 1,268 → 1,301. 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 Fayette’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 801 residents head out to work, 272 work right here, and 1,029 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 (1.21 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.
The places Fayette commutes to
Where Fayette clocks in
24% 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.
From Fayette, about 27 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fayette workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 996 commuters (the 11% 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.
Fayette is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fayette is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #19 of 247 in Missouri. Both inputs place Fayette near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,117 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). 6.1% of Fayette households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fayette’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fayette next to U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800: 3,130th of 4,703 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Clarkson Valley MO | 2,540 | $247K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 159 | Frontenac MO | 3,790 | $233K | 2.0% | 4.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,128 | Little Flock AR | 3,039 | $61K | 13.2% | 7.1% | 1% | C |
| 3,129 | Buffalo Township IL | 2,617 | $63K | 19.3% | 2.9% | 11% | C |
| 3,130 | Fayette MO | 2,848 | $58K | 16.9% | 2.5% | 25% | C |
| 3,131 | Walbridge OH | 3,076 | $55K | 13.3% | 6.9% | 2% | C |
| 3,132 | Garrettsville OH | 2,450 | $66K | 11.2% | 10.5% | 11% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Fayette, 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 Fayette: questions
What is the median household income in Fayette?
$57,679 (±$20,393) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fayette?
16.9%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fayette?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fayette work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (24%, 24 mi), Boonville (4%, 13 mi), Glasgow (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fayette walkable?
Fayette is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fayette 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 Fayette, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fayette
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.