Making a living in Fortescue
There are 14 jobs in Fortescue, against 9 working residents. 0% of workers work from home, where Missouri as a whole has 13%. Hardly any stay in Fortescue for work; outside it, St. Joseph is the main destination (22%, 33 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Fortescue, and who commutes in
On a workday 9 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 14 people come in from elsewhere.
About 26 people are in Fortescue on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.6 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.
The towns that send workers to Fortescue
Where Fortescue clocks in
22% of workers
11% 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.
Fortescue works in goods: 100% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fortescue, 2013 → 2023: 2 → 14. 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 Fortescue’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Fortescue
of Fortescue workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4 commuters (the 0% 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 many miles Fortescue commutes
About 44% 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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 0% of Fortescue workers work outside Missouri. The job records count 22% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Fortescue: questions
What is the poverty rate in Fortescue?
25.0%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Fortescue work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Joseph (22%, 33 mi), Pella (11%, 157 mi), Hiawatha (11%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Fortescue without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 50% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fortescue, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fortescue
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.