Photo: Paltron · CC BY-SA 4.0Garden City has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
There are 167 jobs in Garden City for 714 working residents. Jobs and income earn Garden City B−; getting around on foot earns it C−. Only 2% stay in Garden City for work; outside it, Kansas City is the main destination (20%, 43 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Garden City
Garden City’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Garden City is Kansas City, 43 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (144) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Garden City is a place people come home to
There are 167 jobs based in Garden City, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Garden City has about 1,100 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 714 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Garden City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Garden City is better than 52% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Garden City’s grade up (5.0%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($65,260, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Garden City’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, Garden City could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Where in the region Garden City works
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The daily flow of workers through Garden City
On a workday 697 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 150 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Garden City on a workday afternoon, 34% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Garden City ends
Where Garden City clocks in
20% of workers
15% 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.
The kinds of work in Garden City
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garden City, 2014 → 2024: 202 → 167. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Garden City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Garden City: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Garden City workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 751 commuters (the 7% 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.
In Garden City, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Garden City is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 805 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). 4.3% of Garden City households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Garden City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200, Garden City comes 2,113th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 62 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,111 | Kealakekua HI | 1,919 | $103K | 7.2% | 1.0% | 7% | B− |
| 2,112 | Grand Meadow MN | 1,159 | $72K | 4.3% | 0.7% | 7% | B− |
| 2,113 | Garden City MO | 1,617 | $65K | 5.0% | 3.8% | 2% | B− |
| 2,114 | Fall River WI | 1,853 | $72K | 9.5% | 4.0% | 10% | B− |
| 2,115 | Petersburgh NY | 1,369 | $78K | 5.0% | 3.6% | 10% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Garden City, 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 2024, 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 Garden City: questions
What is the median household income in Garden City?
$65,260 (±$7,713) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garden City?
5.0%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Garden City?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Garden City work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (20%, 43 mi), Harrisonville (15%, 10 mi), Lee's Summit (4%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Garden City walkable?
Garden City is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Garden City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Garden City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garden City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.